Authorities believe the two are dead, though the bodies are yet to be identified, which will happen in Brasilia on Thursday morning.
The remains were discovered by federal police after one of the main suspects in the disappearance confessed to killing British journalist and indigenous representative Bruno Araújo Pereira and leading federal agents to where the bodies were buried.
At a Crisis Management Committee press conference held in the state of Manaus, Regional Superintendent of the Federal Police Eduardo Fontes indicated that excavations, which are still ongoing, have unearthed human remains.
“Last night we received a confession from the first of the two arrested suspects (…), who told us in detail how the crime was committed and where the bodies were buried,” he added.
The area where the bodies were found, in Vale do Zhavari, has “rather difficult” access, which has delayed the process, Eduardo Fontes admitted.
The alleged perpetrators of the murder are the fishermen brothers Amarildo da Costa Oliveira, known as “Pelado”, and Autumni da Costa de Oliveira, known as “Dos Santos”. The first was detained last week and was considered the main suspect, and the second was detained on Tuesday.
During a press conference, the authorities said that there was a third suspect in the crime.
“The challenge was to find them alive,” civilian police delegate Guilherme Torres admitted, expressing his condolences to the families of the journalist and activist.
Dom Phillips, a journalist and contributor to The Guardian, and Bruno Araújo Pereira, an indigenous rights activist, went missing on June 5 in Vale do Javari, a remote jungle area in the Brazilian Amazon close to the border with Peru and Colombia, where an investigation was carried out. threats from the occupiers and criminals against the indigenous population.
The disappearance of a journalist and indigenous activist caused a huge wave of concern among environmental movements and even in some international organizations, such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which asked the Brazilian government to intensify the search.
The Javari Valley, Brazil’s second largest indigenous reserve, is known for being the scene of conflicts dominated by drug trafficking, timber theft and illegal mining.
