Bolsonaro focus of ire after bodies found in search for missing men

Widespread anger has been directed at the far-right administration of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro after the discovery of two bodies believed to be Bruno Araújo Pereira and Dom Phillips, the Brazilian indigenist and British journalist who went missing in the Amazon rainforest earlier this month.

Police were led to a grave in dense jungle on Wednesday by one of two men arrested in connection with the disappearance of the two men after he confessed to his involvement in their murder. Efforts are now under way to formally identify the bodies, which were found near where the two missing men had set off from 11 days ago.

The discovery of the bodies has intensified criticism of the Brazilian government’s approach to the Amazon under president Bolsonaro. Since he assumed office in 2019, federal agencies to protect the environment and indigenous peoples have been gutted, leading to a spike in deforestation and violence right across the world’s biggest rainforest.

When they disappeared, the two men were travelling in remote jungle near Brazil’s border with Peru, documenting conflicts between indigenous communities and outsiders involved in illegal activity on their territory. The man police say confessed to his role in the killings is accused by local indigenous rights groups of involvement in illegal fishing on their territory and has a history of making threats against them.

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At the time he disappeared, Mr Araújo Pereira, one of Brazil’s leading indigenous experts, was on indefinite leave from the government’s indigenous affairs agency after being sidelined by the Bolsonaro administration in 2019. Phillips, a veteran reporter with 15 years’ experience in Brazil, was travelling with Mr Araújo Pereira, as part of his research for an upcoming book on sustainable development in the Amazon.

In a statement, Mr Phillips’s family said: “We are heartbroken at the confirmation that Dom and Bruno were murdered and extend our deepest sympathies to Alessandra, Beatriz and the other Brazilian family members of both men.

“We are grateful to all those who have taken part in the search, especially the indigenous groups who worked tirelessly to find evidence of the attack.”

[ Second arrest in case of missing journalist and expert on the Amazon ]

Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, who convened a senate committee to accompany the investigation into the affair, accused Mr Bolsonaro of having created the context for the murders. “Dom and Bruno were killed by various hands, including that of Jair Bolsonaro, who destroyed organs of control and fomented banditry in Amazonia,” he wrote on social media on Thursday.

Several indigenous rights and environmental protection organisations also blamed the Bolsonaro administration for the fate of the two men.

“[I]t’s the Brazilian government that created the conditions necessary for the tragedy to happen. Its genocidal attempts to open up indigenous territories to invaders, and reward criminals with impunity, have caused skyrocketing levels of both forest destruction and appalling violence against those, principally indigenous communities and leaders, who try to stop it,” said Fiona Watson of Survival International.

In a statement the World Wide Fund-Brasil wrote “[I]t is government negligence of Amazonia and the defenders of its peoples and the forest that permitted the assassination of Dom and Bruno”. — Additional reporting: PA