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RIO DE JANEIRO – A fisherman has confessed to killing a British journalist and a Brazilian indigenous expert in the Javari Valley of the Amazon rainforest, police said on Wednesday evening, and led investigators to an isolated location where remains were recovered. human.
The announcement seemed to lead to a sad conclusion to the disappearance of journalist Dom Phillips and government official Bruno. Pereira a one of the most remote regions in the country, which has transfigured this nation and once again drew attention to the ongoing crime that is dismantling the world’s largest rainforest.
Authorities say the fisherman confessed to ambushing Phillips, a resident of Brazil A Guardian contributor and former contract writer for The Washington Post, and Pereira, a former official of Brazil’s indigenous affairs agency, this month on an uninhabited stretch of a river North Watchtower.
“He confessed to the crime and told us the details of where the bodies had been buried,” said Eduardo Alexandre Fontes, head of the federal police in the state of Amazonas. “By proving that these remains are related to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, our plan is to return them to the family as soon as possible.”
Human remains, he said, have been sent for analysis.
The man who confessed to the crime, Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, was reportedly making threats against Pereira.
Oliveira, 41, known as “Pelado,” was arrested last week. Pereira had been investigating criminal activity by outsiders in the Javari Valley Indigenous Reserve.
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“Our first mission was to find them alive, but unfortunately we bring this sad news to family, friends and the international press,” said Detective Guilherme Torres.
The announcement was mourned by the natives with whom Pereira was collaborating and the fight against illegal invasions Phillips was documenting.
“An incalculable loss,” Univaja, the local indigenous association, said in a statement.
The case has been closely followed in Brazil, where the Amazon rainforest and whether it should be developed or preserved has become one of the most divisible issues in the country. President Jair Bolsonaro, a development advocate who has advocated for illegal mining and deforestation, has blamed Phillips for his disappearance. In a statement on Wednesday, he said the journalist “did not like the region”.
“He did a lot of stories against gold mining and about environmental issues,” Bolsonaro said. “In that region, an extremely isolated region, not many people liked it. He should have redoubled his focus on taking care of himself. But he decided to make this trip. “
Pereira and Phillips were last seen alive on the morning of June 5, when they left a meeting with residents of a riparian community. Initial hopes that the men would get lost or suffer a mechanical problem quickly gave way to suspicions of foul play.
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Pereira, who was mapping criminal activity in the valley and collaborating with an indigenous surveillance team to control and repel illegal land invaders with the intention of stripping her of her resources, had been threatened by the work. A threat sent to the indigenous organization with which he was associated cited him by name and warned that “it will be worse for you” if they did not stop trying to repel illegal incursions.
Phillips, who was writing a book on conservation in the Amazon, recently contacted Pereira to discuss an expedition to the Amazon. valley, a territory larger than South Carolina which is considered the largest depository of uncontacted peoples in the world. Phillips told his wife, Alessandra Sampaio, that he expected to leave the reserve in a few days, according to a statement he gave to investigators.
Sampaio said Phillips had not told him he was threatened neither before nor during the expedition. He said he spoke “generically” that Pereira had been threatened and that the area was in conflict.
Phillips and Pereira were armed, Eliesio Marubo, an Univaja’s lawyer told investigators. Marubo said he received a message from Pereira when the trip was due to begin. Pereira was worried about a meeting they were to have on June 5 with a local fisherman, who has been accused of illegally fishing rivers within the indigenous territory. He said “it could end up being a problem.”
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The men met with an indigenous surveillance team, who reported that they came in contact with fishermen. One of the fishermen allegedly fired a shotgun at the surveillance team, a witness said in an investigation report that federal police sent to Brazil’s Supreme Court this week.
Police accused Pelado of having previously shot at a local Funai base Indigenous Affairs Agency for which Pereira had worked.
Police arrested Costa de Oliveira shortly after the men disappeared. They said they found blood on his boat and recovered ammunition from his home.
Gabriela Sá Pessoa of São Paulo contributed to this report.