ATALAIA DO NORTE, Brazil — Brazilian police on Friday
officially identified the remains of British journalist
Dom Phillips, who was
found buried in the Amazon after going missing on a book research trip.
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The grim result comes after the disappearance on June 5 of
Phillips and his guide, indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, ignited an
international outcry, with the United States calling Friday for
"accountability".
Phillips was identified through "forensic dentistry
combined with forensic anthropology," the Federal Police said in a
statement.
It said it was still working on "complete
identification" of the unearthed remains, which may include those of
Pereira, who had received multiple death threats.
Veteran correspondent Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, went
missing in a remote part of the rainforest rife with illegal mining, fishing
and logging, as well as drug trafficking.
Ten days later, on Wednesday, a suspect named Amarildo da
Costa de Oliveira — known as "Pelado" — took police to a place where
he said he had buried bodies near the city of Atalaia do Norte, where the pair
had been headed by boat.
Human remains unearthed from the site arrived in Brasilia on
Thursday evening for identification by forensics experts.
Earlier Friday, police said investigations pointed to the
perpetrators having "acted alone, without there being an intellectual
author or criminal organization behind the crime."
"The investigations continue and there are indications
of the participation of more people" in the murders, it added.
Activists have blamed the killings on President
Jair Bolsonaro for allowing commercial exploitation of the Amazon at the cost of the
environment and law and order.
For his part, Bolsonaro sought to lay blame at the door of
the men themselves for undertaking a "reckless" trip in an area where
Phillips was "disliked."
'A powerful criminal organization'
Phillips, a longtime contributor to The Guardian and other
leading international newspapers, was working on a book on sustainable
development in the Amazon with Pereira as his guide.
Pereira, an expert at
Brazil's indigenous affairs agency
FUNAI, had received multiple threats from loggers and miners with their eye on
isolated Indigenous land.
The Univaja association of Indigenous peoples, which had
taken part in the search for the men, refuted the police's conclusion that the
killers had acted alone.
"These are not just two killers, but an organized group
that planned the crime in detail," Univaja said in a statement.
It claimed authorities had ignored numerous complaints about
the activities of criminal gangs in the area.
Univaja said it had filed a report in April that
"Pelado" was involved in illegal fishing.
He had previously been accused, it claimed, of "being
the perpetrator of gun attacks in 2018 and 2019 against a base of FUNAI,"
the organization Pereira had worked for.
Univaja said that "a powerful criminal organization
(had) tried at all costs to cover its tracks during the investigation" of
the double murder.
Experts say illegal fishing of endangered species in the
Javari Valley takes place under the control of drug traffickers who use the
sale of fish to launder drug money.
Police said Friday night they have issued an arrest warrant
for a man identified as Jeferson da Silva Lima. It is not known how he is
linked to the case.
Heavily armed soldiers who had taken part in the search for
the two men started leaving Atalaia do Norte Friday.
People there who helped in the search and reported illegal
activity are now afraid for their lives, said Paulo Marubo, an Univaja
coordinator.
"We are going to keep living here, and the state is not
going to give people any kind of protection," said Marubo, who says he has
received threats.
'Brutal act of violence'
The United States on Friday urged "accountability and
justice" for the murders.
State Department spokesman
Ned Price offered condolences to
the men's families, saying they were "murdered for supporting conservation
of the rainforest and native peoples there."
In neighboring Peru, an estimated 100 Indigenous people in
traditional dress marched in Lima Friday to demand protection for natural
resources on native lands and lament the death of Phillips and Pereira.
"The blood that has been spilled will never be
forgotten," the group chanted as it marched to the Justice Ministry.
People at the head of the procession carried a banner reading "protect
land, water and life."
On Thursday, the UN denounced a "brutal act of
violence" in Brazil.
UN human rights spokeswoman
Ravina Shamdasani said attacks
and threats against activists and Indigenous people in Brazil were
"persistent" and urged the government to step up protections.
Investigations continue to look into the motive for the
crime.
Police have been unable to find the boat in which Phillips
and Pereira were traveling when they were last seen.
Blood found in Oliveira's boat belonged to a man,
investigators said, but not to Phillips.
Analysis had also revealed that entrails found in the river
during the search, and linked to the men by Bolsonaro, contained "no human
DNA," according to police.
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