BRAZIL – On Saturday, the Brazilian Federal Police confirmed that the remains found Wednesday in the Amazon correspond to British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian ethnologist Bruno Araujo-Pereira, who disappeared on June 5 and were shot to death with a hunting weapon.
The identification of the corpses was possible thanks to the dental arch examination carried out by the specialists of the National Institute of Criminalists of the Federal Police in Brasilia. On Friday, this institution had already reported that some of the remains found two days earlier corresponded to The Guardian journalist. His identification was possible through examinations of legal dentistry and forensic anthropology.
Local authorities had difficulty identifying the bodies since the victims were dismembered before their remains were cremated and hidden in a place that was difficult to access in the middle of the jungle. Confirmation of the identification of the victims came after a third suspect in the murders turned himself in to police.
The death of the two defenders of Indigenous peoples unleashed a wave of indignation. In Brazil, for example, thousands of people took to the streets to demand justice in Parintins, a city located in the state of Amazonas, where the destruction of ecosystems and attacks on environmental defenders have increased since Jair Bolsonaro came to power in 2019.
On Saturday night, Brazilians dressed in blue and white through the streets of Parintins playing “the bumbas, instruments that sing to the preservation of Indigenous cultures,” local outlet A Critica reported.
“‘Those who died for the Amazon will not be forgotten,’ shouted artist Patrick Araujo, who dedicated the ‘Javari Valle’ song to the victims… Later, speaking of his performance at the next Toro Negro festival, shaman Erick Beltrao promised innovation and a lot of struggle in favor of the Indigenous peoples,” it added.
Personal items belonging to the two missing men were found in an area of flooded forest on Saturday thanks to a small but determined Indigenous search team that has spent the past seven days on the frontline of the search efforts As Brazil’s far-right leader spoke, hundreds of Indigenous protesters marched through Atalaia do Norte, the riverside town from which Phillips and Pereira set off on what was supposed to be a four-day reporting trip, on the afternoon of 2 June.
Carrying spears, wearing traditional dress and singing in their native tongues, the Indigenous protesters processed through the streets to demand justice and denounce the historic assault on Brazil’s environment and Indigenous lands that has played out since Bolsonaro took power in 2019.
Beneath the stage demonstrators held posters and banners demanding: “Who killed Bruno and Dom” and “Bolsonaro out!” Another placard read: “Enough bloodshed of those who defend the Indigenous.”
Father Giuseppe Leoni, an Italian priest who has worked in the Amazon for more than 50 years, insisted the two men had not lost their lives in vain. Leoni said their dedication to helping Brazil’s Indigenous communities defend their forests and telling their stories to the world would inspire future generations of environmental and Indigenous defenders.
“They are a seed which has been cast out into the world and which will give the example of life,” the priest said of Phillips and Pereira.
