On the evening of 26 January, during a regional protest over educational services in the western department of Chocó, Colombian soldiers shot and killed 41-year-old Eleazar Tequia, an indigenous guard of Embera descent.
Eyewitness reports said he was killed by members of the military’s Manosalva Battalion on the main highway connecting Chocó’s capital of Quibdo with Medellin.
The protest was being organised by residents of the Embera Katio reserve in demand of free education with special focus. It began on Monday 22 January.
Despite the 2016 peace agreement, Colombia’s military has routinely been deployed in recent months against indigenous protesters, with army killings having occurred in the departments of Arauca, Catatumbo and Nariño, as well as in Chocó.