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Man Behind Amazon Murders of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Caught in Brazil


Brazilian authorities said on Monday an illegal fish trader ordered his henchmen to kill an expert on indigenous tribes because he was hindering the illegal game trade. lead to an assassination attempt. killed a British journalist. The killings have drawn international attention to the bloody conflict in the Amazon rainforest.

Brazilian federal police officials say they have collected evidence that Rubén Dario da Silva Villar, a Colombian widely known as Colombian, ordered the killing. Bruno Pereira41 years old, an activist and former Brazilian government official, because he is helping indigenous tribes fight illegal fishing and hunting.

As a result, they say, he damaged Mr Villar’s business.

When two other men carried out orders, chasing Mr. Pereira on a boat and shooting him with shotguns, they also killed his companion: Dom Phillips57 years old, a British freelance journalist who used to write for Guard and The New York Times and was traveling in the Amazon to write a book.

Mr. Villar now at least the fourth man was arrested in the murders of Mr. Pereira and Mr. Phillips. The federal police also accused three other men with killing men or helping conceal their bodies. Police said they were also looking for another man they believe gave one of the murder weapons to the gunmen and then helped hide the bodies.

Law enforcement officials have said they plan to charge Mr. Villar with murder, largely concluding the investigation into the killings. But indigenous activists in the area say more needs to be done.

“Who is funding these people so they can continue their illegal activities?” asked Eliesio Marubo, an attorney for Univaja, an indigenous association that, along with Mr. Pereira, helped organize patrols in the area. “The federal police did not respond to that. We need a deeper investigation.”

Police say they believe Mr Villar ordered the killing based on eyewitness testimony and records showing he supplied ammunition used in the murder and paid one of the gunmen’s attorneys. gun.

The Times was unable to contact Mr Villar or the attorney representing him. An attorney who has worked on his behalf says he has left the case.

Mr. Pereira and Mr. Phillips went deep into the Amazon in early June to meet a group of indigenous men patrolling the Javari Valley, a remote indigenous reserve the size of Portugal that is inhabited by few at least 19 isolated groups.

Indigenous men have joined patrols in an effort to combat rampant illegal fishing and hunting in the area, which has increased after the Brazilian government largely abandoned the area. especially under the administration of former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

Mr. Pereira, who was once Brazil’s top official on isolated tribes, is training indigenous men to document crimes using smartphones and drones, while Mr. Phillips is giving an interview. Ask them for a book he’s writing about how people are trying to save the world. Amazon.

Indigenous patrols have sometimes been successful, including leading authorities to a poacher with 650 pounds of illegal game and nearly 900 pounds of illegal fish. Police said the patrols made Mr Villar, who runs a human trafficking operation in the area, a violent, crime-ridden rainforest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

Police first arrested Mr Villar in July for using fake identification when questioned about the murders. He was later released. Police arrested him again in December for violating the rules of his previous release. He has been in custody ever since.

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