Report: Suspects Admit to Killing Journalist & Indigenous Expert in Brazil
The Facts
Brazilian media reported on Wed. that two suspects have admitted to killing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous affairs expert Bruno Araújo Pereira.
Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira and his brother Oseney da Costa de Oliveira are said to have confessed that they dismembered the bodies, set them on fire, and threw them in a ditch.
The Spin
Narrative A
The lethargy of the Bolsonaro administration in responding to this disappearance exposes its dismissive attitude toward indigenous people and journalists. By promoting the dominant notion that their rights shouldn't be respected, and failing to act to protect Philips and Pereira, the Brazilian president is complicit in ongoing attacks against the press.
Narrative B
A federal probe has been opened into criminal organizations that operate in the remote region of the Javari Valley, showing that Brazilian security forces aren't ignoring the disappearance of Pereira and Phillips. It has become a qualified homicide investigation due to recent evidence that links this event with both fishing and illegal hunting.