Land grab case heads for UN

»» World leaders to hear of exploitation of the Cofan Avie group.

- Bogota

ACTIVIST: INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY TAKES ON MINING

Ecuadoran activist Alex Lucitante has never shied away from the fight against land-grabbing miners and armed groups in his part of the Amazon jungle bordering Colombia.

This month, he will take his battle to world leaders at the United Nations, as one of several indigenous representatives to the COP16 biodiversity conference in the Colombian city of Cali.

"It's an opportunity for indigenous people to be stronger in the world," he said before the meeting, which organisers say will attract more than 100 government ministers and 12 heads of state.

Lucitante, the 31-year-old son of a shaman, is of the Cofan Avie ethnic group.