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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 14 June 2022
Search continues for missing men in Brazilian Amazon

By FABIANO MAISONNAVE With traditional garments,
Associated Press bows and arrows and mo-
ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil bile phones, they carried
(AP) — The search for an In- placards criticizing Presi-
digenous expert and a jour- dent Jair Bolsonaro, who
nalist who disappeared in a is widely seen as an oppo-
remote area of Brazil's Am- nent of Indigenous rights.
azon continued on Mon- The Javari Valley has seven
day following the discovery known Indigenous groups
of a backpack, laptop and — some only recently con-
other personal belongings tacted, such as the Matis.
submerged in a river. The valley also has at least
The items were taken by 11 uncontacted groups,
Federal Police officers by making the region the larg-
boat to Atalaia do Norte, est concentration of isolat-
the closest city to the ed tribes in the world.
search, and police said Officially, the Indigenous
Sunday they had identified territory has a population of
the items as belonging to about 6,300 people. Many
the missing men, including of them live in the small ur-
a health card and clothes ban center so their children
of Bruno Pereira, the Brazil- can attend non-Indigenous
ian Indigenous expert. An indigenous man aims an arrow during a protest against the disappearance of Indigenous ex- public schools. They also go
The backpack, which was pert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, in Atalaia do Norte, Vale do Javari, to the city to seek medical
identified as belonging to Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, June 13, 2022. treatment and collect fed-
freelance journalist Dom Associated Press eral benefits.
Phillips of Britain, was found That area has seen violent
tied to a tree that was half- the belongings were found. the boat of a fisherman Matis, told the AP. conflicts between fisher-
submerged, a firefighter Federal police issued a who is under arrest as the Pereira, 41, and Phillips, 57, men, poachers and gov-
told reporters in Atalaia do statement Monday deny- only suspect in the disap- were last seen June 5 near ernment agents. Violence
Norte. It is the end of the ing media reports the two pearance. the entrance of the Javari has grown as drug traffick-
rainy season in the region men's bodies had been Search teams had concen- Valley Indigenous Territory, ing gangs battle for control
and part of the forest is found. Last week, police trated their efforts around which borders Peru and of waterways to ship co-
flooded. found organic matter of a spot in the Itaquai river Colombia. caine, although the Itaquai
Paulo Marubo, president apparent human origin in where a tarp from the boat They were returning alone is not a known drug traffick-
of local Indigenous asso- the river, which has been used by the missing men by boat on the Itaquai to ing route.
ciation Univaja, for which sent for analysis. They was found Saturday by vol- Atalaia do Norte but never Authorities have said police
Pereira was an adviser, told haven't detailed what the unteers from the Matis In- arrived. are investigating possible
The Associated Press that material is, but President digenous group. Hundreds of people from links to an international net-
search parties from the Jair Bolsonaro told local ra- "We used a little canoe several Indigenous groups work that pays poor fisher-
army, navy, Federal Police, dio Monday it was "human to go to the shallow wa- took to Atalaia do Norte's men to fish illegally in the
Civil Defense, firefighters viscera." ter. Then we found a tarp, narrow streets to protest Javari Valley reserve, which
and Military Police were Police have also reported shorts and a spoon," one of the pair's disappearance is Brazil's second-largest In-
working in the area where finding traces of blood in the volunteers, Binin Beshu Monday. digenous territory.q

U.S. sanctions 93 Nicaraguan officials for crackdown

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The ers, as well as legislators The State Department had
U.S. State Department im- who had cooperated in previously imposed visa
posed visa restrictions Mon- banning NGOs and civic restrictions on 116 individu-
day on 93 more Nicara- groups. als linked to the Ortega
guan officials for their role The department said in a regime, "including mayors,
in supporting the regime of statement that legislators prosecutors, university ad-
President Daniel Ortega. and Interior Ministry offi- ministrators, as well as po-
Ortega jailed dozens of cials helped "the regime lice, prison, and military of-
opposition figures in order to tighten its authoritarian ficials."
to win a fourth consecu- grip over Nicaraguan citi- In recent months, the Trea-
tive term in Nov. 7 elections zens and institutions by us- sury Department has frozen
that were broadly criticized ing repressive laws to strip the U.S. assets of the de-
as a farce. He has also out- more than 400 NGOs and fense minister and other of-
lawed dozens of nongov- a dozen universities of their ficials in the army, telecom
ernmental organizations. legal status." and mining sectors. As with
Since then, dozens of op- It added "the regime holds dozens of Nicaraguan of-
ponents have been tried or over 180 political prisoners, ficials already under sanc-
convicted in brief trials on with many suffering from tions, U.S. citizens were pro-
vague charges equivalent a lack of adequate food, hibited from having deal- In this Sept. 5, 2018 file photo, Nicaragua's President Daniel Orte-
ga and his wife and Vice President Rosario Murillo, lead a rally in
to treason. proper medical care, and ings with them. Managua, Nicaragua.
The State Department an- even sunlight. One political With all government institu- Associated Press
nounced it had pulled the prisoner has died, and oth- tions firmly within Ortega's
visas of judges who con- ers remain in solitary con- grasp and the opposition 75-year-old leader eroded country could soon return
victed the opposition lead- finement." exiled, jailed or in hiding, the what hope remained the to a democratic path.q