The Federal Police in Brazil announced on Monday that they identified and arrested the murderer of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips, ending a two-year investigation into the double homicide of the Brazilian indigenous activist and the British journalist who were killed in the Javari Valley in the Amazon.
The Federal Police stated that their investigations revealed that the homicide was carried out by a criminal organization consisting of nine people. The man they identified Monday was the “mastermind” behind the murder and the coordinator of the criminal group, but they did not reveal his identity. The police indicted him for providing the arms for the crime, funding the activities of the criminal organization, and coordinating the concealment of the bodies. The rest of the suspects allegedly executed the murder and hid the victims’ bodies in a jungle near a riverside village. According to the Federal Police, the motive of the murder was Bruno Pereira’s environmental activism and inspection activities in the Javari Valley.
The statement added that the criminal group was also involved in crimes of predatory fishing and hunting in Atalaia do Norte, a municipality in Javari Valley. Their activities threatened the lives of environmental protection officers and indigenous people living in the region.
The investigation started in June 2022 when Brazilian indigenous expert and environmental activist Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips went missing before the discovery of their bodies. They were both shot to death as they were traveling by boat in the Javari Valley. Pereira and Phillips were known for their activism in favor of Indigenous people’s rights and protection of their lands from environmental destruction and illegal loggers, miners, poachers, fishermen, and drug traffickers.
Article 231 of the Brazilian Constitution recognizes the indigenous people as the first and natural owners of the land and guarantees their right to land. The same article adds that the exploitation and prospection of water resources, energetic potentials, and mineral riches is allowed only after obtaining the authorization of the parliament and after hearing from the indigenous communities involved.
However, the Javari Valley has been under intense attack from invaders and criminal organizations eager to appropriate its natural resources for profit, which has generated conflicts between the criminal groups, government agents, and indigenous people. Pereira and Phillips’ work contributed to highlighting these conflicts and violations faced by indigenous tribes. They both criticized former president Jair Bolsonaro and his government’s failure to prevent crimes against these communities.
Relatedly, the environmental group AllRise filed a complaint against Bolsonaro for his role in the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Following this, the Brazilian government opened an investigation into the alleged genocide perpetrated by Bolsonaro’s government against indigenous people. Current President Lula Da Silva has taken a different approach towards indigenous issues. In 2023, he vetoed certain provisions of a controversial bill that had been previously rejected by the Supreme Court and that established a time frame for recognizing indigenous land claims.
