According to local media reports, he was driving a pickup truck, on a road located near the indigenous village of San Antonio Ilotenango, when he was killed by bullets.
The French Benedict Maria, director of the NGO Agronomists and veterinarians without borders (AVSF) in Guatemala, was killed on Monday during an armed attack in the north-east of the country, have announced the organization of defense of human rights and the local press.
“We denounce the murder of human rights defender Benedict Maria”, wrote on his Twitter account the Unit of protection of human rights defenders of Guatemala (Udefegua), calling for an investigation of the public ministry.
According to several local media, Benedict Maria was at the wheel of a pickup truck on a highway located near the indigenous village of San Antonio Ilotenango, approximately 85 km north-west of the capital Guatemala city, when he was killed by bullets. The mobile of this attack was not known in the immediate future.
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“Consternation” of the embassy of France
The embassy of France in Guatemala in a press release of his “dismay”. It adds to be in “contact with the guatemalan authorities to ensure that this crime is solved and that justice can be done quickly”. “Well known to the embassy of France, Benedict Maria worked to improve the plight of the most disadvantaged populations of the western part of the country,” says yet this press release published on the page Facebook of the embassy.
According to Jorge Santos, coordinator of Udefegua, Benedict Maria was at the head of AVSF and lived for more than twenty years in Guatemala where he provided support to agricultural projects in favour of indigenous communities of the maya Ixil. He has also participated in the creation in 2011 of the university of Ixil, in the department of Quiché, dedicated to the ancestral knowledge of indigenous peoples.
