Amazon: a suspect says he buried the bodies of the two missing men

In Atalaia do Norte, in the Amazon, Brazilian police take a suspect, on June 15, 2022, to the river where expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips disappeared ten days earlier. EDMAR BARROS / AP It looks like, ten days later, the outcome of the intriguing disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian expert Bruno Pereira in the Amazon. A suspect, arrested after the disappearance of the two men, admitted to having buried their bodies, and showed the authorities the whereabouts of them. “Last night, we obtained the confessions of the first of the two arrested suspects (…) who recounted in detail how the crime was committed and told us where the bodies had been buried”, explained, Wednesday June 15, in conference release, the head of the Federal Police of the State of Amazonas, Eduardo Alexandre Fontes. The latter added that the suspect, a 41-year-old fisherman named Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, had admitted to having participated in the “crime”, without specifying his role. He had been brought by the police to the search site to show them the precise location. “Excavations have been carried out on site, the excavations will continue, but human remains have already been found,” he said. “As soon as we have been able to verify thanks to the expertise that these are indeed the remains of the bodies of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, they will be returned to the families”. Read also: Brazil: the laborious search for the disappeared from Amazonia The Brazilian wife of the journalist wanted to thank in a press release “all the teams who carried out the research, in particular the indigenous volunteers” whose absence during the conference of press has been criticized by many observers. “Even if we are still awaiting final confirmations, this tragic outcome puts an end to the anxiety of not knowing where Dom and Bruno were. Now we can take them home and bid them a loving farewell,” she said. Today, we also begin our fight for justice (…) We will only have peace when the necessary measures are taken to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again. Two suspects arrested Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira, nicknamed “Pelado” (“naked”, in French), was arrested on June 7. Witnesses said they saw him pass at high speed on board a boat going in the same direction as the boat of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, before their disappearance. The second suspect, Oseney da Costa de Oliveira, known as “Dos Santos”, was arrested on Tuesday and is “suspected of involvement in the case”, according to the federal police. President Jair Bolsonaro had already mentioned on Monday “viscera floating in the water” which would have been found during the search, information not confirmed by the police. On Sunday, the authorities announced that they had found personal effects of the two missing persons. Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Research launched to find an English journalist and a Brazilian anthropologist who disappeared in the Amazon The British journalist and the Brazilian expert were last seen on June 5, during an expedition in the area of ​​the Javari Valley. This region close to the border with Peru and Colombia is reputed to be very dangerous, there are multiple drug trafficking, fishing or illegal gold panning. It has become in recent years a strategic axis for gangs of drug traffickers who transport cocaine or cannabis produced in countries neighboring Brazil by river. “Unseen” in the Amazon Author of dozens of reports on the Amazon, Dom Phillips, 57, moved to Brazil fifteen years ago and is married to a Brazilian. He had once again traveled to the area as part of his research for a book on environmental conservation. Bruno Pereira, 41, a recognized expert and defender of the rights of indigenous peoples, worked for many years at the Brazilian government agency for indigenous affairs (Funai). In particular, he directed the Funai branch in Atalaia do Norte, a place where the two men were supposed to go by boat when they disappeared, as well as a program to protect isolated indigenous groups in the Javari Valley. Father of three, Bruno Pereira has repeatedly recounted being the target of threats by loggers, miners and illegal fishermen who tried to encroach on protected land. A demonstration in support of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, in Manaus, Brazil, on June 15, 2022. STRINGER / REUTERS Their disappearance has aroused great emotion around the world, with reactions from prominent political figures and celebrities like members of Irish rock band U2. Read also Article reserved for our subscribers In Brazil, the deforestation of the Amazon, the result of the policy of Jair Bolsonaro The far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, favorable to the mining and agricultural exploitation of indigenous reserves in the Amazon, has been strongly criticized for calling the two men’s expedition an “unsavory adventure”. On Wednesday, he claimed that Dom Phillips was “frowned upon” in the Amazon because he had written “many reports against gold miners, on the environment”. “In this very isolated area, a lot of people didn’t like him. He should have redoubled his precautions (…) Over there, there are pirates on the river, it is unwise to survey the place without being armed”, he added, during an interview with the YouTube channel of journalist Leda Nagle. Read also: Amazonia: two disappearances and a disaster Le Monde with AFP