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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Indigenous Land Defender, Fighter Against Colombian Paramilitary Groups, Killed in Venezuela</h1></div>
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<p><img src="https://i0.wp.com/orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/FWqNwItWQAEzJ91-e1656817723434.jpeg?fit=1080%2C672&ssl=1" alt="Graphic showing indigenous land defender Virgilio Trujillo Arana holding a Venezuelan flag. Photo: ORPIA." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="392" height="244"> </p>
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<font size="1">Graphic showing indigenous land defender
Virgilio Trujillo Arana holding a Venezuelan flag. Photo: ORPIA.
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<p>Caracas, July 2, 2022 (<a href="http://orinocotribune.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OrinocoTribune.com</a>)—A
Venezuelan indigenous leader, who fought against incursions by
Colombian criminal armed groups and illegal mining groups into the
Venezuelan Amazon region, was shot dead on Thursday afternoon, June 30,
in the Escondido 3 sector, Puerto Ayacucho, capital of Amazonas state.</p>
<p>Virgilio Trujillo Arana, 38 years old, member of the Uwottujja
indigenous people, which has a population of approximately 15,000, was
the leading force in the creation of the Sipapo Territorial Guards in
Autana municipality, Amazonas state. He started his activism as a land
defender at a young age, following into the footsteps of his uncles. He
was trained as a territorial indigenous guard with the suport of the
Amazonas Indigenous Peoples’ Regional Organization (ORPIA).</p>
<p>Trujillo was the proponent of the creation of a territorial
indigenous guard during a community assembly a few years ago, as a
response to increasing incursions by illegal mining and the appearance
of paramilitary armed groups in Uwottujja territory. His organization
accompanied the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) in the latest
military operations to expel Colombian paramilitary armed groups
(TANCOL) from the Autana municipality, according to a statement by
ORPIA.</p>
<p><a href="https://orinocotribune.com/president-maduro-presents-report-of-venezuelas-fight-against-colombian-tancol-paramilitaries/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED CONTENT: President Maduro Presents Report on Venezuela’s Fight Against Colombian TANCOL Paramilitaries</a></p>
<p>On Thursday, Trujillo was shot in the head three times by an
unidentified gunman who fled to a waiting vehicle. The land defender had
reportedly received multiple threats because of his work.</p>
<p>Mainstream media and right-wing influencers tried to use the incident
to attack the Orinoco Mining Arc (Arco Minero), a project developed by
President Nicolás Maduro’s administration precisely to control illegal
mining in the region, the terrible environmental effects of illegal
extractivist activites, and to improve the quality of life of local
residents.</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="es">Diferentes organizaciones denuncian asesinato de
Virgilio Trujillo Arana, del pueblo Indígena Uwottujja, líder indígena y
coordinador de Guardianes territoriales Uwottujja del municipio Autana,
estado Amazonas. <a href="https://t.co/llzUn6lSJE">pic.twitter.com/llzUn6lSJE</a></p>
<p>— Luigino Bracci Roa #ArreglenElMetro (@lubrio) <a href="https://twitter.com/lubrio/status/1543202760153337859?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 2, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Mining has been prohibited since 1989 in Venezuela’s southern state
of Amazonas, which is not part of the Arco Minero project, a gold mining
zone of 111,000 sq km created by decree in 2016, located in the
northern part of Bolívar state.</p>
<p>Illegal mining is a plague affecting all the countries in which parts
of the Amazon rain forest lie. This illegal activity also brings with
itself criminal acts such as corruption, human trafficking, drug
trafficking, and criminal armed groups. In the case of Amazonas state,
the situation becomes worse as it borders Colombia as well as the south
of Barinas state, where narco-paramilitary groups have created chaos for
years and the Venezuelan army has been fighting with renovated impetus
in the last few months.</p>
<p><a href="https://orinocotribune.com/civic-military-unity-empowering-the-people-and-promoting-development-are-essential-for-defeating-tancol/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">RELATED CONTENT: Civic-Military Unity, Empowering the People, and Promoting Development are Essential for Defeating TANCOL</a></p>
<p>The governor of the Amazonas state, Miguel Rodríguez, from the United
Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), condemned the murder of the
Uwottujja indigenous leader and asked the Attorney General to thoroughly
investigate the assassination.</p>
<p>“We cannot remain silent in the face of such an unfortunate event,”
said the governor. “We cannot allow the murder of a Uwottujja indigenous
brother not to move our deepest feeling against death and violence. We
strongly condemn this act.”</p>
<p>Rodríguez called on the Attorney General’s Office, and the police and
military authorities to thoroughly investigate this situation.
“Amazonas cannot be a territory of outlaws and assassins where these
types of inhumane practices imported from the neighboring country
[Colombia] continue,” he added.</p>
<img src="https://scontent-ccu1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/289990656_3961252290666087_2210087514464598987_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=Im90RTlkMb0AX9js_ah&_nc_ht=scontent-ccu1-1.xx&oh=00_AT_jyq6CH6Oq7y4ndyNNj817fRZWPqZRrVr_tGdN62uwhQ&oe=62C73B95" alt="Relatives, friends and colleagues of Virgilio Trujillo Arana, slain Venezuelan land defender, accompany his funeral cortège, Amazonas state, Venezuela. Photo: ORPIA." width="2048" height="1153">Relatives,
friends and colleagues of Virgilio Trujillo Arana, slain Venezuelan
land defender, accompany his funeral cortège, Amazonas state, Venezuela.
Photo: ORPIA.
<p>ORPIA posted on its Facebook page images from the funeral of Virgilio
Trujillo Arana, showing family members, relatives, friends and
supporters carrying his mortal remains to his final resting place after
authorities released his corpse from the morgue.</p>
<p>By instruction of President Nicolás Maduro, the Bolivarian National
Armed Force (FANB) remains deployed in the border states, including
Amazonas, to dismantle clandestine tracks, drug trafficking routes and
laboratories built and used by the TANCOL.</p>
<p>Special for Orinoco Tribune by staff</p>
<p>OT/JRE/SC</p>
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