At least two indigenous leaders have died and another person is seriously injured after several hooded men attacked them in front of their families in Chocó, western Colombia.
The fatalities are Francisco Sarco Pipicay, 29, and Carlitos Uragama Cano, 23. The attackers also reportedly shot a third person who was shot five times but survived and is now in the hospital where he is receiving medication.
«The men were spread out on the ground, and the women were separated. The three men who were there, according to the information given, were shot without saying a word», said Colonel Clauder Cardona, commander of the Chocó Police.
Afterwards, the authorities went to the place of the facts, where they proceeded to carry out the removal of the bodies.
«They were indigenous guards and also worked as day laborers on a farm in the rural area of Quibdó», explained Luis Murillo Robledo, ombudsman in Chocó, who emphasized that the «communities have been reflecting their fear of the expansion of illegal groups».
The Ombudsman’s Office had warned in an early warning that in some of the localities in the mentioned region extortions, homicides and micro-trafficking are increasing.
