EXPLAINER: Crime, impunity surge in Amazon’s Javari Valley

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and FABIANO MAISONNAVE
Associated Press

ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil (AP) — A British journalist and an Indigenous affairs official are missing in the Amazon region’s Javari Valley. It’s Brazil’s second-largest Indigenous territory and sits in an isolated area where crime is rife and government oversight scant. That’s adding to fears for the two. The valley has seen violent conflicts between fisherman, poachers and government agents. Violence has grown as drug trafficking gangs battle for control of waterways to ship cocaine. The Javari Valley has been the stage for decades-long tension between Indigenous tribes and descendants of rubber tappers who live in dozens of communities along the region’s riverbanks.