British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian guide, whose disappearance in the Amazon about two weeks ago sparked protests, were shot dead, Brazilian police said Saturday.
A day after investigators learned of the discovered remains buried in a remote part of the Amazon like Phillips’, authorities said a set of remains belonged to their guide, indigenous expert Bruno Pereira.
Authorities said the two men were shot: Phillips, 57, was hit by a bachelor in the chest, Pereira, 41, was shot three times, one in the head, with ammunition used to hunt. Pereira, a fervent defender of indigenous rights, had won multiple death threats.
Photo: AP
The two men disappeared on the fifth of June in a remote location in the rainforest plagued by illegal mining, fishing and logging, and drug trafficking.
Ten days later, a suspect took police to a location near the city of Atalaia do Norte in western Amazonas state, where he said he buried the bodies. Soon after, the suspect’s brother was also arrested.
Police said Saturday that the suspect in the case, known as Jefferson da Silva Lima, also known as “Pelado da Dinha,” had gone to the Atalaia do Norte police station.
Commissioner Alex Perez Timothy told G1 News that the evidence and testimony gathered so far indicates that the suspect “was at the scene of the crime and actively participated in the double murder that occurred. “
On Friday, police said they believed the culprits had “acted alone, without there being an intellectual culprit or criminal organization in the crime. “
Activists accused Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro of allowing the exploitation of advertising in the Amazon to the detriment of the environment and public order.
For his part, Bolsonaro sought to blame the men themselves for embarking on a “reckless” adventure to a region where Phillips “hated. “
Phillips, a longtime contributor to several major foreign newspapers, adds the British newspaper The Guardian, which publishes an e-book on sustainable progress in the Amazon with Pereira as its guide.
Pereira, an expert at Brazilian indigenous affairs firm FUNAI, earned threats from loggers and miners who attacked remote indigenous lands. The Univaja Indigenous Peoples’ Association, which participated in the search for the men, rejected the police’s conclusion that the killers had acted. alone.
“These are just two killers, but a groomed organization that planned the crime in detail,” Univaja said in a statement.
The organization said the government had ignored court cases about criminal gang activity in the area.