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| Curacao politician Helmin Wiels shot dead | Curacao politician Helmin Wiels shot dead |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| A prominent politician on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, Helmin Wiels, has been shot dead. | A prominent politician on the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, Helmin Wiels, has been shot dead. |
| Witnesses said he was killed on the beach by gunmen who sped off in a car. | Witnesses said he was killed on the beach by gunmen who sped off in a car. |
| Mr Wiels, 54, led the Pueblo Soberano party, which campaigns for independence from the Netherlands. | |
| Local media say it is the first time a politician has been assassinated in Curacao. Prime Minister Daniel Hodge said: "This act was horrendous, terrible, and we are in shock." | Local media say it is the first time a politician has been assassinated in Curacao. Prime Minister Daniel Hodge said: "This act was horrendous, terrible, and we are in shock." |
| Beach attack | |
| "We are not accustomed to these things on the island," the prime minister said. | |
| A motive for the killing remains unclear, but the Curacao government said Mr Wiels had received threats in the past. | A motive for the killing remains unclear, but the Curacao government said Mr Wiels had received threats in the past. |
| Justice Minister Nelson Navarro said Mr Wiels had a security guard assigned to him after receiving the threats. | |
| He also promised to increase security for all of Curacao's elected officials. | |
| Friends of Mr Wiels said he had sent his bodyguard home earlier in the day and was enjoying a beer on Marie Pompoen beach when two gunmen approached him and fired five shots. | |
| No one else was hurt in the attack. | |
| A spokesman for the Pueblo Soberano party said they suspected organised crime to be behind the killing because of Mr Wiels's work in combating corruption. | |
| Mr Wiels's Pueblo Soberano party gained a majority of the votes in the 2012 election and holds five of the 21 seats in Curacao's parliament. | |
| 'Cowardly deed' | |
| Mr Wiels was well known as a fervent supporter of cutting Curacao's ties with the Netherlands. | |
| Curacao is a former Dutch colony and now forms an independent country within the kingdom of the Netherlands, but it still relies on the Netherlands for defence and foreign policy. | |
| Mr Wiels had his own radio show in which he often discussed controversial issues affecting the island of about 150,000 people. | |
| On Friday, Mr Wiels had denounced alleged abuses committed by Curacao telecommunication company UTS in an interview with news site Versgeperst.com. | |
| He accused UTS of involvement in the illegal sale of lottery numbers. | |
| The Curacao government said the Netherlands had offered to help with the investigation into Mr Wiels's murder. | |
| Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the attack on Mr Wiels was a "cowardly deed". | |
| "Curacao has lost a driven politician who fought for his ideals and loved his country," Mr Rutte said. |