Brazil president says ‘something bad’ has happened to missing activists Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira (photos)

Bolsonaro said he believed “something bad” had happened to the British journalist Dom Phillips and its indigenous companions Bruno Pereiraafter announcing that two unidentified bodies had been found by search operations.

Authorities did not describe the location but said the bodies were found in the rainforest, tied to a tree, according to Paul Sherwood, the brother-in-law of the missing British man who received the notification.

But Brazilian police later denied that bodies, but some possessions of the missing, had been found, by search teams.

Speaking on the radio yesterday, President Bolsonaro said the accumulated evidence shows that the two men had disappeared on the morning of June 5 while sailing on the Itaquaí River, and that unfortunately there is not much hope of finding them alive.

Bolsonaro added that tests are being carried out on human material found floating in one of the region’s rivers. “There are signals that evil things have been done to them,” the president said.

Personal belongings belonging to the two missing were found over the weekend in a flooded forest area, by a small but search-set group, with indigenous natives.

With handkerchiefs in their hands, traditional clothing and songs in their indigenous language, protesters took to the streets to demand justice and to denounce the historic attacks on the nature of Brazil and the lands of indigenous peoples.

The demonstrators’ posters read: “Who killed Bruno and Dom” and “Bolsonaro out!” Another banner read: “Enough bloodshed for those who protect the natives.”

Father Giuseppe Leoni, an Italian priest who has worked at Amazon for more than 50 years, insisted that the two men had not lost their lives in vain.

Leoni said their dedication to protecting indigenous communities in Brazil, protecting forests and telling the truth, will inspire future generations to the same cause.

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