Funai apologizes to Bruno and Dom’s families for 2022 note

The National Foundation of Indigenous Peoples (Funai) released this Tuesday (28) an apology to the families of indigenist Bruno Pereira and journalist Dom Phillips, due to a note released by the body during the government of Jair Bolsonaro. Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips were murdered in June 2022 in Vale do Javari, Amazonas. “The National Foundation for Indigenous Peoples (Funai) hereby corrects the terms of a defamatory and violent note previously published by this foundation, when it was chaired by delegate Marcelo Xavier. The note published on June 10, 2022, just five days after the disappearance of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, threatened the União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari (Univaja) with legal proceedings and brought a series of untruths against Bruno and Dom ”, says the apology. According to the foundation, the text was removed from the Funai website by order of the Federal Court of Amazonas, which considered the note improper, contrary to human rights and not compatible “with the reality of the facts and with the norms in force”. “Today, Funai recants and apologizes for this regrettable chapter in its history. We affirm the importance of the work of Univaja, an indigenous organization whose collaboration is fundamental for the protection and promotion of indigenous rights in the Vale do Javari region and without which the murders of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips would not have been, at least in part, solved ”, appears in the text. In the text, Funai points out that “Bruno was a dedicated indigenist, of widely recognized seriousness and commitment, who suffered persecution within the body that was supposed to protect him and was exonerated from his duties for bothering criminals, that is, for fulfilling his duty as a state official. He paid with his life for the unwavering commitment he had to indigenous peoples.” About the Briton, the agency states that “Dom Phillips was a journalist who devoted his work to the protection of the Amazon and its peoples and he also paid with his life for that dedication”. “For all this, today we apologize to the families of Bruno and Dom. Their names were insulted by public authorities at the most difficult time in the lives of their families and it is the duty of the Brazilian State to recognize the defamatory violence they suffered, apologize to their family members and never again allow the repetition of acts of this nature”, concludes the note. . This Monday (27), representatives of the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, Univaja leaders and federal government authorities held the first act in Atalaia do Norte, in Amazonas, since the murder of the indigenist and the journalist. The meeting aimed to mark the unity of forces with the Public Power, in defense of the peoples that inhabit the region. The widows of Dom and Bruno, respectively, Alessandra Sampaio and Beatriz Matos, were also there.

Agência Brasil