Armed men on motorcycles have shot at indigenous people in southwest Colombia, killing one, the governor of the Cauca department said Tuesday.
One member of the Nasa tribe was killed and two were injured in a shooting Monday night in the Caloto municipality of Colombia’s southwest Cauca department, Governor Temistocles Ortega told W Radio.
The assassination attempt followed threats made to the life of local indigenous leader Feliciano Valencia by neo-paramilitaries on Saturday.
Cauca’s governor called on authorities to investigate the shooting.
Cauca has seen increased tensions in recent months after indigenous peoples demanded all armed forces be removed from their ancestral lands. Fighting between government forces and members of guerrilla group FARC have made the rural lands into a heated battleground that the indigenous tribe of Nasa want nothing to do with.