Venezuelan police investigate indigenous leader's murder

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view show a wildcat gold mine, also known as a garimpo, at a deforested area of the Amazon rainforest near Crepurizao, in the municipality of Itaituba, Para State, Brazil, August 6, 2017. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File Photo

Venezuelan criminal investigators have launched inquiries into the murder of an indigenous leader, who was killed on June 30 in the country's southern Amazonas state, the police said on Tuesday.

Virgilio Trujillo Arana, a 38-year-old indigenous Uwottuja man, was a defender of the Venezuelan Amazon and had set up community groups to act as guardians of the Autana municipality of Amazonas.