Indigenous leader slain in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Last update: 14/04/2019

BOGOTA, 14 April (afp) -- A Colombian indigenous leader who had received death threats from a drug gang died after being shot in the face three times, an indigenous advocacy group said Saturday.

Aquileo Mecheche, 52, was taken from his home in northwest Colombia Friday and killed, said the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia.

The attack happened in impoverished Choco department where leftist rebels and a paramilitlary drug trafficking gang called the Gulf Clan are fighting over land routes to the Pacific, which are key to transporting drugs and weapons.

Mecheche was a leader of an indigenous group called the Embera. He ran a school and also worked as a human rights activist.

http://www.bernama.com/en/world/news.php?id=1716227