Indigenous expert, journalist still missing in Brazil

The place where they went missing is the primary access route to Brazil's second-largest Indigenous territory, which is bigger than Maine and where several thousand Indigenous people live

RIO DE JANEIRO — A British journalist and an Indigenous affairs official were still missing in a remote part of Brazil’s Amazon on Tuesday as authorities said they were expanding search efforts in the area, which has seen violent conflicts between fishermen, poachers and government agents.

Dom Phillips, who has been a regular contributor to the British newspaper The Guardian, and Bruno Araújo Pereira were last seen early Sunday in the Sao Rafael community, according to the Univaja association of people in the Vale do Javari Indigenous territory, for which Pereira has been an adviser.

The pair was returning by boat to the city of Atalaia do Norte, about an hour away, but never showed up.

Pereira is one of the Brazilian Indigenous affairs agency's most experienced employees operating in the Vale do Javari area. He oversaw the agency's regional office and the coordination of isolated Indigenous groups before going on leave. He has received a stream of threats from illegal fishermen and poachers, and usually carries a gun.

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