Authorities in southern Colombia have found the bodies of two indigenous leaders who were shot dead by unknown assassins, local media reported Sunday
The victims, indigenous councillor Ramiro Inampues and his wife Maria Lina Galindez, were found in the Nariño department only miles from the border with Ecuador.
The couple had been missing since Friday after Inampues attended a meeting of the Guachucal municipal council where he represents the Social Indigenous Alliance (ASI) party.
According to Nariño governor Antonio Navarra, the murdered couple was found on Saturday in El Comun, a rural area within the Guachacal municipality.
According to the Green Party, the bodies were found “in a ditch near where they are building the school for indigenous rights.”
According to the party, Inampues “together with other indigenous authorities, was preparing the negotiation of the managing of land with the national government.”
The Green Party said Inampues and other local indigenous leaders had been receiving death threats by email.
According to Colombia’s ombudsman, two other indigenous leaders from the same region were kidnapped on Friday by alleged members of paramilitary group Nueva Generacion (New Generation).
