The two men were on a reporting trip in the remote jungle area near the border with Peru and Colombia, which is home to the largest number of uncontacted Indians in the world. This wild and lawless region has attracted gangs of cocaine smugglers, as well as illegal loggers, miners and hunters.
The journalist, author of dozens of reports on the Amazon, was preparing a book on environmental conservation and Pereira accompanied him as a guide through this remote region where drug traffickers, loggers and illegal fishermen operate.
This expert from the government agency for indigenous affairs (Funai) and an active defender of these communities had received threats from criminal groups that try to invade protected lands to exploit their resources.
State police detectives involved in the investigation told Reuters they are targeting poachers and illegal fishermen in the area, who often clashed with Pereira when he organized indigenous patrols in the local reserve.
News of the disappearance resonated globally and environmentalists and human rights activists had urged Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to intensify the search.
Bolsonaro, who last year faced tough questions from Phillips at a news conference about the weakening of environmental law enforcement in Brazil, said last week that the two men “were in an adventure that is not recommended” and he suggested that they might have been executed.
With information from AFP and Reuters