Presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated at campaign event

An Ecuadorean presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, amid a startling wave of gang-driven violence in the South American country. President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organised crime was behind his slaying, less than two weeks before the August 20 presidential election. “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” Lasso said in a statement. “Organised crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law.” Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito. In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the country’s “thieves”. Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organised crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups. More Ecuadorean kidnappers cutting off victims’ fingers to get hefty ransoms “Here I am showing my face. I’m not scared of them,” Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss Jose Adolfo Macias by his alias “Fito”. Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the front runner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Supporter Ida Paez said that Villavicencio’s campaign had given her hope for that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said: “We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family”. As drug traffickers have begun to use the country’s coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades. The sounds of gunfire ring in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed. On July 26, Lasso declared a state of emergency covering two provinces and the country’s prison system in an effort to stem the violence. Former vice-president and candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said in a news conference following Wednesday’s killing: “We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something”. Videos of the rally on social media appear to show Villavicencio walking out of the event surrounded by guards. The video then shows the candidate getting into a white pickup truck before gunshots are heard, followed by screams and commotion around the truck. This sequence of events was confirmed to Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencio’s campaign adviser. Zuquilanda said the candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities, resulting in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking. “The Ecuadorean people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded,” he said. “Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society.” Villavicencio was one of the country’s most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa. He was also an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments, later entering politics an anti-corruption campaigner. Villavicencio filed many judicial complaints against high ranking members of the Correa government, including against the ex-president himself. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation his criticisms of Correa, and fled to indigenous territory in Ecuador, later receiving asylum in neighbouring Peru. Edison Romo, a former military intelligence colonel, said the complaints made Villavicencio “a threat to international criminal organizations”. Authorities said that at least nine others were injured, including officers and a congressional candidate, in what they described as a “terrorist act”. The killing was met with an outcry by other candidates who demanded action, with presidential front runner Luisa Gonzalez of the Citizen Revolution party saying “when they touch one of us, they touch all of us”. Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children.

Presidential candidate in Ecuador assassinated at campaign event

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}Fernando Villavicencio was killed during a campaign event in northern Quito Suspect in the assassination died of wounds after being arrested by authorities

Fernando Villavicencio was killed during a campaign event in northern Quito

Suspect in the assassination died of wounds after being arrested by authorities