Film-maker killed while making documentary on violence

BOGOTA: A Colombian film-maker was shot dead Thursday while making a documentary on the victims of violence in the northeast of the country, local authorities said.

Mauricio Lezama was collecting testimonies from people who suffered violence during the civil war when he was shot and killed by four armed men in the town of Arauquita, in Arauca department, governor Ricardo Arevalo told reporters.

Arevalo blamed the killing on a splinter group of FARC which rejected the peace agreement signed by the rebels and the Colombian government in November 2016.

The documentary, titled “Mayo”, was dedicated to a nurse murdered in the area.

Arauca department, bordering Venezuela, is an important center of drug trafficking and smuggling.

There are also an estimated 1,700 FARC dissidents in the area as well as National Liberation Army (ELN) fighters, the last guerrilla group still active in Colombia.