It is through Tabatinga that you arrive at Vale do Javari, if part of the route is taken by plane. From the airport, travelers can head to Benjamin Constant and Atalaia do Norte, one of the cities associated with indigenist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips, murdered in June 2022 for denouncing organized crime in the region, hunting and illegal fishing. The municipality is 1,100 kilometers from Manaus. In Tabatinga (AM), which has 68,000 inhabitants, you walk a short distance and you will soon see houses on stilts, which confirms data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The Municipal Human Development Index is 0.616, on a scale of 0 to 1, and only 21.6% of households have sanitary sewage that complies with the standard. In large numbers, motorcycles roam the avenues and alleys, often with three people on board, including children, among two adults. The atmosphere of abandonment in Tabatinga is also present in a post that, about a decade ago, belonged to the National Public Security Force. On Avenida da Amizade, on the border with Colombia, the unit now has walls with graffiti, surrounded by tall weeds. On the same street, evangelical churches are just a few steps from each other. From the top of one of the numerous streets where asphalt dust rises, you can see the Port of Tabatinga, popularly called Porto das Catraias, in reference to small vessels. According to residents heard by the report, it is through him that drug traffickers, both Brazilian and Colombian and Peruvian, transport shipments, contrary to what happens in the port where larger vessels dock and surveillance is more intense. The criminals secure passage with the help of boys, some 6 and 7 years old, who warn them when police are approaching. Everyone in the neighborhood knows about it. This is a piece of history told by the Guadalupe neighborhood. The area, on days of storm, suffers from the destruction of floods such as the Amazon River. In May 2022, the municipal government even officially launched, with solemnity at the Municipal Secretariat of Civil Defense, a specific action for residents: flood aid. Atalaia do Norte (AM), 02/28/2023 – Movement at the port of Atalaia do Norte, which receives indigenous people from communities in the Javari Valley. Photo: Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil-Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil The scenario was known by the secretary of the Diocese of Alto Solimões, Marcy de Lima Pinheiro, almost two decades ago, when she moved to the city. One of the points she highlights is the ease with which drug trafficking co-opts minors, given their widespread vulnerability. “Our children, our teenagers are very adrift”, she says. “There is a 12-year-old boy who is already killing.” In addition to the external problems that affect boys and girls in the city, there is also the possibility that the family is the source of fatalities. “I’m part of an association that takes care of women with domestic violence. But when we do some event, some action, what happens to children is impressive”, comments Marcy. Her godson, student Victor Sidney Castelo Branco, turned 18 with the certainty that Tabatinga and the surrounding towns are not for him, contrary to what his mother wants. The young man plans to pass in veterinary medicine, so that he can withdraw from the agricultural course he is taking at the Federal Institute of Amazonas. For that, however, he needs to move to Manaus, since the course he prefers is not offered where he lives, Benjamin Constant. One of her twin sisters faces the same situation as she wants to study law. Victor said he never saw future prospects for him if he stayed in the municipality, which is out of the question for friends as well. “I had the experience of a friend who entered the life of drug trafficking. I lost contact with him, because I don’t agree with that. But it was more because of this disadvantage of living here and not having so many opportunities”, he added. Succession of violence Asked about how the crimes of illegal mining and hunting, common in the region, come to her, Marcy replies that she only knows about some of them from news reports, although others come to her through conversations with people in her social circle. “I’ve seen it more often some time ago. I go to the market a lot and notice. I don’t know if they sell it hidden, I can’t tell you that. But, for example, Benjamin Constant was a place that sold a lot, in 2006, around. While the history of Javari [de Bruno e Dom], I only saw it on television, but some facts had already happened that we learned about.” Atalaia do Norte (AM), 02/28/2023 – Movement at the port of Atalaia do Norte, which receives indigenous people from communities in the Javari Valley Photo: Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil – Marcelo Camargo/Agência Brasil One of the facts that had already come to Marcy’s attention was the murder of Maxciel Pereira dos Santos, an employee of the then National Indian Foundation (Funai), who also defended indigenous people of the Javari Valley. He was killed in 2019, with two shots to the back of the head. One of the bases where he worked was Ituí-Itacoaí, which had already been the target of attacks by invaders four times since 2018. “We live on a border very dangerous”, laments Marcy. The Vila Paraíso neighborhood is another one over which drug trafficking has dominion. to the letter without anything else preoccupying need to be said. A balance sheet by the Secretariat of Public Security of Amazonas (SSP-AM) indicates that, in 2021, 52 homicides were recorded in the municipality, four murders and one femicide. The year 2022 closed with 29 homicides, one femicide and no cases of robbery. In an April 2022 note, the SSP-AM says that the support of intelligence teams, the use of specialized troops and the increase in actions by security agents in the triple border are the elements that have improved homicide rates. “Currently, the municipality has the support of Operation Hórus, which has personnel from the entire public security system and aims to repress the trafficking route, considering the location of Tabatinga, on the border between Brazil, Colombia and the Peru”. Through the tabatinga account transparency portal, it is possible to analyze the amounts allocated to each portfolio. In 2022, the allocation for education, to name one area, was R$ 23 million. For social assistance, the amount was R$ 2.2 million, less than that reserved for the office of the mayor, Saul Nunes Bemerguy (MDB). Bemerguy already had the 2010 accounts disapproved by the Amazonas Court of Auditors (TCE-AM). He argued that the documents from the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) referring to that period were lost and that the city hall accountant was unable to prove the accounts for the year. Agência Brasil requested a position from the city of Tabatinga, the government of Amazonas and the SSP-AM and is waiting for a response.
Agência Brasil
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