In a document from Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio), one of its frontline servants noted: “A profusion of versions and stories is created from the villages where they say they are appearing [indígenas] isolated in the Javari Valley.”
It was Bruno da Cunha Araújo Pereira, an agent in indigenism, who had just returned from the Arrojo Expedition. In eight pages, he reported to an agency coordinator in the region what the group found in the month-long mission.
The expedition sought information about the appearance of isolated people in villages on the lower Curuçá River, further south of the Javari Valley, the second largest indigenous land in Brazil – and where there are more isolated or recently contacted indigenous peoples in the world.
“The stories take on new contours with each turn of the river or ‘change’ on the radio”, Bruno wrote. “A certain social commotion is established and memories of wars and kidnappings in times not so distant come to life again in the daily relations of Vale do Javari.”
The indigenist listed situations and stories he heard from the indigenous people, such as “thirds and axes that mysteriously disappear, distant smoke in the sky, birdsong announcing the arrival of an outsider, diseases caused by witchcraft”.
And he concluded: “Ghosts have life and their existence sustains this world of things. This collection of versions and the construction of dialogues is a fundamental part of an expedition to try to open the Western hegemonic thinking of the State to the transformations in the indigenous worldview. .”
The document signed by Bruno, obtained by the Sheetreconstructs what was his penultimate expedition by Funai related to isolated indigenous people in Vale do Javari, on the triple border between Brazil, Peru and Colombia.
In addition to the report on the expedition, the indigenist denounced in the document the presence of illegal fishermen and hunters in the indigenous land. And he pointed out the risk of incidents between invaders and isolated people, with possible retaliation by isolated people against indigenous people in the villages.
Just over four years after the report was prepared, signed on March 21, 2018, Bruno and journalist Dom Phillips were murdered in the Vale do Javari region on June 5. The crime was committed by fishermen who act illegally, according to a complaint from the MPF (Federal Public Ministry), in a scenario of significant worsening of conflicts and abandonment of the region by the State.
The report prepared by Bruno records invasions by hunters and fishermen near areas of isolated indigenous peoples; continuous “shortage” of Bape (Ethnoenvironmental Protection Base) Curuçá, from Funai; and “total stoppage” of actions with the Army, Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and the Federal Police, in addition to local bodies.
Bruno was sought out by the chief of a village at the beginning of the expedition’s preparations, as described in the document. According to Antônio Mayoruna, “the isolated Indians continued to appear in his village, even in winter, and the atmosphere of tension had increased”.
“The concern increased because the Matsés had caught non-indigenous hunters leaving in three canvas canoes from within the Sacudido stream, close to their village and access to the area of most intense occupation of the isolated group”, describes the document. The first evidence about these indigenous people was recorded in 2015, according to the report.
When he docked at Bape Curuçá, like five other members of the expedition, Bruno saw a “splintering of work” at the unit. “Roçadeira no longer exists, and the chainsaw, computer and printer have not worked for a long time.”
The indigenist spoke with several indigenous people about the presence of the isolated. According to some reports, they were with spears and painted with annatto. The presence of these indigenous people made groups consider moving the village.
The indigenous people interviewed said they feared that isolated people would contract the flu or malaria, and that eventual deaths from these diseases would be interpreted as a “spell” of the Matsé ethnic group.
“The climate of fear sets in and the day to day becomes tense, especially for women and children”, noted Bruno.
The indigenist and the other members of the expedition then organized themselves for a three-day walk, in search of traces. But Bruno started to show symptoms of malaria after 11 kilometers of walking.
“With the most latent symptoms, the team decides to stop and set up camp. There were no conditions to advance in this situation and it was also not safe to walk in an isolated area with people with malaria”, registers the report signed by the indigenist.
The expedition, at the end, ended up aborted. “At night an intense and long storm breaks down that follows us until dawn.”
The presence in the village and the dialogue with the Matsés were considered beneficial, for “strengthening trust in this relationship”. “We were available to help in the construction of coexistence and protection strategies for the isolated who live near the village.”
In the document, Bruno made five recommendations: immediate reactivation of Bape’s actions; resumption of actions with security agencies, with the intermediation of the MPF; structuring support for surveillance in the Sacudido stream; support from Funai for eventual change of village; and elaboration of a contingency plan for the contact situation.
“Only command and control actions do not have the desired effect of reducing the invasion of indigenous lands and the transit of offenders along the Curuçá River”, said Bruno, who made a suggestion that can be seen as the embryo of the indigenous surveillance service: keep the hunting of the Matsés in the area as “a way of monitoring the movement of possible invaders and the isolated ones”.
Five months after the expedition, in July 2018, Bruno was appointed to the position of general coordinator of Isolated and Newly Contacted Indians at Funai and moved to Brasília.
In the first year of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, in September 2019, Bruno was dismissed from office. He then graduated from Funai and started working for Univaja (União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari). He was one of the main responsible for structuring an indigenous surveillance service, in the face of the abandonment of inspection actions by the federal government.
The indigenist continued with actions in defense of the indigenous land, with the production of reports in which he denounced the worsening of invasions by fishermen and hunters.
In 2021, Bruno was the supervisor of a protection plan for Vale do Javari, in charge of Univaja and Funai.
The document, compared to the Arrojo Expedition report, is evidence of the escalation of conflicts and violence. It describes invasions of the Curuçá River by hunters, fishermen and loggers; presence of an old landing strip for drug traffickers at the head of a river stream; and damage to demarcation boards by invaders.
