The murdered Native lawyer Bruno Pereira was buried in his hometown of Pernambuco. Brazil after a small ceremony attended by family members and local tribes.
Dozens of Natives from the Xukuru tribe marched around his coffin on Friday, singing farewell rituals to the rhythm of percussion instruments.
Topless and wearing headdresses made of palm leaves, they greeted a man who had spent most of his life working in isolated communities in remote areas of the Amazon rainforest.
“We will continue our fight without them,” one of the tribal leaders said in a short speech in front of the coffin and next to Pereira’s wife, Beatriz Matos.
Pereira’s coffin was covered with the flags of Pernambuco and football team Sport Recife.
The 41-year-old father of three died on 5 June. he and British journalist Dom Phillips had shot deadOn the Itaquai River in the westernmost part of Brazil.
Phillips to write a book Two men were returning from a reporting trip about sustainable development in the Amazon and where local fishermen allegedly attacked their boat. Shots were exchanged and Pereira was shot three times and Phillips once.
Three people are in custody and more are wanted by police for allegedly helping to dispose of the bodies.
Although authorities initially said the killers acted alone, the officer in charge of the investigation is now reversing that hypothesis. “It’s possible that there was an intellectual writer behind it,” said Eduardo Fonte. “The investigation is ongoing. We are looking at everything and will not leave any stone unturned. We will find out what happened and what didn’t.”
Local groups, loggers, prospectors, farmers and drug traffickers have been known to encroach on Indigenous lands in the remote Javari Valley, and hunters and fishermen have been known to capture protected species of animals and fish. Locals claim that organized crime groups operating in the area may have been involved in the killings.
Pereira was working with an Indigenous organization called Univaja. He helped the tribes living in the Javari Valley define their lands and protect them from invaders.
Pereira had previously worked with the Brazilian government’s Indigenous foundation, Funai. He was sacked in 2019 after leading a successful operation to destroy an illegal mining operation on his native land.
He has found a new home in the Javari Valley working with NGOs and tracking the isolated Native American tribes living in one of Brazil’s most remote corners.
The Observatory for Human Rights of Isolated and Recently Contacted Indigenous Peoples (OPI) “Today the land where he was born accepts him, his body is re-experienced with clay, roots of plants, water and warmth of soil”), one of these NGOs said in a statement.
Longtime Guardian contributor Phillips will be buried Sunday in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro. The 57-year-old journalist will be buried on a plot of land belonging to his wife’s family.
