Forty-two year old Ases Euloquio Pascal was an indigenous rights defender and a member of the Guardia Indigena (Indigenous Guard) on the Awá reservation of La Brava, in the village of La Espriella, Tumaco.
On 7 October, 2020, Ases was returning from the river where he had gone to swim, when he was intercepted and shot dead by armed men who had been lying in wait for him.
The Awá people and their traditional leaders have been the particular target of land grabbers who have systematically taken over large swathes of Awá land and target anyone who protests. Seventeen members of the Awá people were killed between March and October 2020.