According to the Federal Police, a fisherman involved in illegal activities confessed to having participated in the murder and concealment of the bodies of the two missing men, who were traveling by boat in the extreme southwest of the state of Amazonas and visiting communities in the vicinity of the Vale do Javari Indigenous Land, which shelters the largest number of isolated peoples in the Amazon rainforest. Human remains were collected at the location pointed out by the suspect.

Pereira worked for a decade at Funai, where he served as coordinator for Vale do Javari and Povos Isolados. He had extensive experience in the area, where he chose to continue working after he was dismissed from the sector and graduated from the federal agency, starting to collaborate with Univaja (União dos Povos Indígenas do Vale do Javari).

Phillips accompanied the indigenous activist to gather information about the self-defense system of local peoples against invasions by miners, loggers, poachers, and illegal fishermen. He was working on a book on how to save the forest he fell in love with when he moved to Brazil in 2007.

Experienced professionals were aware of the risks of circulating in a corner of Brazil also frequented by drug traffickers, so much so that on most of the routes they had an escort from Univaja. A lawyer for the association informed that its members and Pereira had already received threats days before.

There were strong signs, therefore, that they would have been the targets of an ambush. Despite this, the Government was slow to react, mobilizing efforts only after an intense national and international campaign was launched to find them.

The most regrettable thing about the inhuman sluggishness of the public power is knowing that it is fully coherent with Jair Bolsonaro's character. A bilious and erratic president, who subscribes to the most delusional doctrines of international greed for the Amazon and antagonizes indigenous activists, environmentalists and journalists as much as possible.

If criminals act freely in that corner of the Amazon, it is because the State was absent there. Bolsonaro once again evaded responsibility, reaching the height of ignominy by blaming the missing men themselves and saying that they were undertaking an "adventure" and that Phillips was "disliked" in the region.

Journalism is not an adventure, the Amazon will not belong to Brazilian democracy as long as gunmen, thieves, and deforesters impose the laws of violence in the region, and Bolsonaro will not be a president worthy of the office as long as he remains aligned with the destroyers of the forest.

Translated by Cassy Dias