23 US Lawmakers Demand Impartial Probe Into Murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips

Nearly two dozen congressional Democrats on Tuesday pressured the Biden administration to push for an independent investigation into the June murders of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips in Brazil’s Javari Valley and to improve U.S. policy related to the region.

U.S. Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Susan Wild (D-Pa.), joined by 21 House colleagues, detailed their demands in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“These two are just the highest profile current cases of innumerable people who have been threatened and killed for their defense of the Amazon rainforest,” the letter says of Pereira and Phillips.

Of the 1,540 activist murders worldwide documented by Global Witness between 2012 and 2020, over a fifth occurred in Brazil, the letter notes, “and the killings are only the tip of the iceberg of violence that is committed daily against land and environment defenders.”

“This human-level tragedy is a symptom of a broader assault on the Amazon rainforest, which is pushing the vast ecosystem to an ecological tipping point,” the letter continues, highlighting how deforestation in Brazil—home to a majority of the rainforest—and threats against local Indigenous peoples have soared under far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The letter comes after Eliésio Marubo, an attorney for the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), met with members of Congress, the State Department, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the head of the Organization of American States, and journalists in Washington, D.C. “to expose the serious situation in the Javari Valley region.”

Marubo said Tuesday that “support of U.S. congress people through this letter is vital so that we can continue to pressure the Brazilian government to protect the Javari Valley.”

Diana Ruiz, head of forests at Greenpeace USA, pointed out that “climate justice depends on swift action to stop human rights abuses and attacks on environmental human rights defenders and the rampant environmental destruction that is taking hold in Brazil.”

“The murders of Bruno and Dom expose the grave danger that Indigenous peoples and environmental defenders face when they stand up against illegal mining, logging, and powerful interests of criminal networks,” she added. “The U.S. has a responsibility to act as time is of the essence for Indigenous peoples of Javari Valley and those who work and advocate for their protection.”

“Our right to life is being violated,” Marubo said. “We want the international community to remind the Bolsonaro government of its obligations and responsibilities to respect the rule of law and our right to live.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.