Government officials meets with indigenous leaders of the Javari Valley

Representatives from different government agencies visited the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land in Amazonas state on Monday (27), in an action called by the Union of Indigenous Peoples of Vale do Javari (UNIVAJA) and grassroots organizations of the indigenous land. The committee was composed of representatives from the Ministries of Justice and Public Security, Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, Health, the National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (FUNAI), the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama), the Federal Police, the Federal Highway Police, the National Public Security Force, and the Federal Public Prosecution. Also present were three secretaries of the Amazonas government

The region, which is the second largest indigenous reserve in Brazil, suffers from the absence of the State and the presence of organized crime, besides having been the scene of a barbaric crime in June 2022, when the activist Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips were murdered.

During the visit, indigenous leaders delivered a letter with proposals for improvements in infrastructure, security, education and health in the region. The government task force will continue in the Javari Valley, visiting the Ituí Base, where isolated indigenous people live.

Bruno Pereira’s widow, Beatriz Matos, who has taken over the direction of the Department of Isolated Peoples in the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, and Dom Phillips’ widow, Alessandra Sampaio, also participated in the delegation and were moved when they took part – together with the minister of indigenous peoples, Sônia Guajajara and the president of FUNAI, Joenia Wapichana – in an indigenous ritual with the song that became famous in Bruno’s voice.