Police Find Bodies of Activists Killed in the Amazon Jungle

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.

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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.