In a case that caused global outcry, Phillips and Pereira were killed on June 5, 2022, on a reporting trip to the edge of the Javari Valley, a far-flung indigenous reservation in northwestern Brazil that experts say had been invaded by drug traffickers, illegal gold miners and poachers.

"I want to pay tribute to Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, and all those who lost their lives defending the environment," Lula said at an event in Brasilia that opened with a resounding salvo of applause in memory of the two men.

"The best way to honor them is to make sure their struggle wasn't in vain," he said, announcing new initiatives to fight illegal deforestation in the Amazon, which surged under his far-right predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

In that spirit, Lula later unveiled an update of an initiative he launched in 2004 during his first term as president, only for it to be scrapped by Bolsonaro, under whom deforestation shot up by 75 percent compared to the previous decade.

Iconic indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire also attended the event, wearing his traditional lip plate and feather headdress, along with the victims' widows and Pereira's daughter, who got hugs from First Lady Rosangela da Silva, Environment Minister Marina Silva and Indigenous Affairs Minister Sonia Guajajara.

Police say illegal fishermen with suspected ties to a drug-trafficking ring have confessed to shooting Phillips and Pereira, hacking their bodies to pieces and hiding them in the jungle, where the remains were found after a 10-day search.

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