Danger zone : The Javari valley and its people are under threat Lula must take bold action

Among my people, the Marubo, knowledge is transmitted through oral history, passed down by elders throughout the centuries. For many generations these stories described the approach of people we call nawas– outsiders who always brought misfortune, usually in search of natural resources from the forests we inhabit.

- Beto Marubo

My ancestors spoke of Catholic missionaries from Spain and Portugal, of Peruvian rubber barons and logging companies. The stories my generation tells are of fundamentalist evangelical missionaries, illegal miners and fishing gangs bankrolled by drug trafficking networks. This situation has made the Javari valley Indigenous territory, where the Marubo and six other contacted Indigenous peoples live, as well as 16 isolated groups, a dangerous place for Indigenous leaders and journalists.

It was here, on 5 June 2022, that one of these invaders murdered the Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and the British journalist Dom Phillips, a longtime Guardian contributor. At the time , Bruno was working with me at the Javari valley Indigenous association, Univaja.

Thirty years ago, I travelled from my village, at the headwaters of the Curuçá River, to the city to learn the language and customs of the nawa.  Ever since then I have worked to demarcate and protect our territory and its peoples. I met Bruno in 2010 when he joined my team at the government Indigenous agency Funai. He was a different kind of nawa and became my rainforest brother.