A trafficker in illegal fishing ordered his henchmen to kill an expert on indigenous tribes in June because he was disrupting the illicit game trade, Brazilian authorities said on Monday, prompting a killing that also claimed the life of a British journalist. .
The murders drew international attention to the bloody conflict from the Amazon jungle.
Brazilian federal police officials said they had gathered evidence showing that Rubén Dario da Silva Villar, a Colombian widely known as Colombia, had ordered the assassination of Bruno Pereira, 41, an activist and former Brazilian government official, because was helping indigenous tribes a fight against illegal fishing and hunting.
As a result, they said, it hurt Villar’s business.
When other men went to do their bidding, chasing Pereira in a boat and shooting him with rifles, they also killed the person he was with: Dom Phillips, 57, a British freelance journalist who had written for The Guardian and The New York Times and was traveling through the Amazon working on a book.
Villar is now at least the fourth man arrested for the murders of Pereira and Phillips.
Federal police also charged three other men with killing them or helping hide their bodies.
Police said they were also looking for another man they believe supplied one of the gunmen’s murder weapons and later helped hide the bodies.
Law enforcement officials said they planned to charge Villar with the murders, largely ending the investigation into the murders.
But indigenous activists in the region said it was still there work to do.
Requests
“Who is financing these people so they can continue their illegal activities?” asked Eliesio Marubo, a lawyer for Univaja, an indigenous association that, together with Pereira, has helped organize patrols in the region.
“The federal police have not responded to this. We need a more thorough investigation.”
Police said they believe Villar ordered the killings based on testimony and documents showing he provided the ammunition used in the murder and paid lawyers for one of the gunmen.
The Times was unable to contact Villar or the attorney representing him.
An attorney who had worked on his behalf said he had dropped the case.
Pereira and Phillips headed to the Amazon in early June to meet with a group of indigenous people patrolling the Javari Valley, a remote indigenous reservation in the Size of Portugal in which at least they live 19 isolated groups.
Indigenous people had begun patrolling in an effort to combat rampant illegal fishing and hunting in the region, which had increased after the area was largely abandoned by the Brazilian government, particularly under the administration of the former president of extreme right, Jair Bolsonaro.
Pereira, who was the leader of isolated tribes in Brazil at the time, was training to document crime using smartphones and drones, and Phillips was interviewing them for a book he was writing about how people were trying to save the Amazon.
Indigenous patrols have sometimes been successful, such as when they led authorities to a poacher with 600 pounds of illegal game and nearly 900 pounds of illegal fish.
The patrols had annoyed Villar, who had conducted a violent and trafficking operation in the area full of crime on the border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru, according to police.
Police first arrested Villar in July for using false IDs when asked about the murders.
It was later released.
Police arrested him again in December for breaking the rules of his previous release.
He has been detained ever since.
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.