The leader of Curaçao’s biggest government party and a fervent campaigner for independence has been shot dead close to his home.

Helmin Wiels, 54, headed the ruling party Pueblo Soberano but chose to remain in parliament when it became part of the government. He was shot by two men on the Marie Pompoen beach who drove off in a gold coloured Kia, Nos television said.

Wiels was having a beer with friends, having sent home his bodyguard earlier in the day. A spokesman for his party said they suspect organised crime to be behind the killing because of Wiels work in combating corruption.

The Carribean island of Curaçao is a former Dutch colony and now forms an independent country within the kingdom of the Netherlands.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the attack on Wiels was a ‘cowardly deed’. ‘Curaçao has lost a driven politican who fought for his ideals and loved his country,’ Rutte said in a statement.