On Friday, federal police confirmed that some of the remains found two days earlier match the British journalist.
The identification of the remains of the employee of the English newspaper The Guardian was made possible thanks to “an investigation of legal dentistry combined with forensic anthropology” carried out by experts from the federal police, who are still trying to determine whether other remains have been found. corresponds to the indigenista.
The difficulty in identification is due to the fact that, as one of the perpetrators of the crime confessed, the two victims were shot and dismembered before their remains were cremated and hidden in an inaccessible place in the middle of the jungle.
Phillips and Araújo had been missing since June 5 and were last seen navigating a river in the Valle do Jaravi region, in a remote area of the Brazilian Amazon bordering Colombia and Peru.
The two brothers arrested for the crime are fishermen and had already been reprimanded by Araújo for fishing in areas under the jurisdiction of indigenous reserves, which is illegal.
The inmate who confessed to the crime led authorities to where he buried the bodies of his victims, about 2 miles into the jungle from the river where he intercepted and killed them.
In a statement released Friday, federal police said the investigations “indicate that the executors acted alone,” which ruled out the alleged participation of criminal organizations in the crime or that the killers were acting under the orders of a third party.
The hypothesis was refuted by the Union of Indigenous Peoples of Valle do Javari (Univaja), which claimed in a statement that “the level of brutality used in the practice of the crime shows that Pereira and Phillips crossed paths with a powerful criminal organization that tried to hide its tracks at all costs”.
Pereira has faced multiple threats over his complaints against organizations involved in drug trafficking, logging, illegal fishing and hunting in the indigenous reserves of the Valle do Javari.
The deaths of Phillips, 57, and Araújo, 41, have shocked the world and exposed the threats surrounding the Amazon jungle and indigenous peoples.
Phillips was a veteran journalist based in Brazil for 15 years, where he collaborated with several international media outlets such as the Financial Times, The New York Times and The Washington Post, and is researching a book on the threats facing indigenous communities in the Amazon. suffering.
Source: El heraldo
John Cameron is a journalist at The Nation View specializing in world news and current events, particularly in international politics and diplomacy. With expertise in international relations, he covers a range of topics including conflicts, politics and economic trends.
