BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Police in Colombia say assassins have killed a journalist just three weeks after his official security detail was pulled.

Antioquia department police commander Col. Gustavo Chavarro says radio journalist Luis Carlos Cervantes was riding on the back of a motorcycle Tuesday when he was gunned down by three people in the municipality of Taraza.

He was the first journalist killed in the South American nation this year.

The president of the Colombian Federation of Journalists Adriana Hurtado says authorities on July 24 cancelled the protection provided for Cervantes since 2012 even though he still got threatening telephone messages after denouncing official corruption in the region.

The government agency that provided Cervantes with two security guards says it pulled them because they believed he was no longer practicing journalism.

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