Indigenous Leader Who Defended Amazon Killed in Venezuela, Rights Group Says

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

July 01, 2022 11:37 PM
Reuters

Indigenous Leader Who Defended Amazon Killed in Venezuela, Rights Group Says

PUERTO ORDAZ, VENEZUELA — A Venezuelan Indigenous leader who was an opponent of armed groups and illegal mining was shot dead on Thursday in the Amazonas state capital, a non-governmental organization and three people with knowledge of the case said.

Virgilio Trujillo Arana, a 38-year-old Indigenous Uwottuja man, was a defender of the Venezuelan Amazon and had set up community groups to act as guardians of the Autana municipality of Amazonas.

"In life, Trujillo Arana strongly opposed the presence of foreign groups and illegal mining exploitation in the indigenous territories of the Uwottuja people, in the Alto Guayapo area," Indigenous rights organization A.C Kape Kape wrote Friday on Twitter.

The Uwottuja community is made up of about 15,000 people.

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Read more: https://www.voanews.com/a/indigenous-leader-who-defended-amazon-killed-in-venezuela-rights-group-says/6642351.html

[secondwind]

1. Wish I could check this more than once...