Irish Examiner view: Ever-increasing pressures on Brazil's indigenous people

Sad end to 10-day search for environmental campaigners

Federal police officers arrive with recovered human remains believed to be of the indigenous expert Bruno Pereira of Brazil and freelance British reporter Dom Phillips. Picture: AP Photo/Eraldo Peres

The tragedy which appears to have overtaken the British eco writer Dom Phillips and his Brazilian activist colleague Bruno Pereira during their trip along the Itaquaí river in Brazil is a sad end to a 10-day search that has foregrounded the challenges to Brazil’s environment, and the ever-increasing pressures on its indigenous people.

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, nailed his personal colours to the mast when he told a press conference that the expedition by the British journalist, with whom he has previously clashed when challenged over his environmental record, was “reckless”.

“This English guy was not well liked in the region, because he wrote a lot of articles about [illegal mining] and environmental issues,” said Bolsonaro. “He should have paid more attention to himself, and he decided to go on an excursion ... There are pirates in the river there, there’s everything you could possibly imagine. It’s very reckless to be in that region without being properly physically prepared.”

The next Brazilian presidential elections are scheduled for October. Bolsonaro has been implacably opposed to giving indigenous peoples rights over their lands in the Amazon and has increased the rates of deforestation, but he may learn that there are now martyrs behind which native communities can rally. 

Bolsonaro’s comments compare badly with those of his predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who said yesterday: “Democracy and Brazil can no longer tolerate violence, hatred, and contempt for the values of civilisation. Bruno and Dom will live in our memory — and in the hope of a better world.” 

Let us all say amen to that.