2023-08-10 08:51:32
It is a tragedy that is shaking up political life in Ecuador. At the end of an electoral rally in Quito on Wednesday evening, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, second in the polls, was shot and killed as he left the sports hall, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced. The prosecution reported “nine injured, including a candidate for the Assembly, and two police officers”. As for the assailant, he was shot dead by security. This Thursday morning, a state of emergency was declared in the country.
Villavicencio, a 59-year-old centrist and journalist by profession, was one of eight candidates in the first round of presidential elections scheduled for August 20. He ranked second in voting intentions with around 13%, according to the latest polls from the Cedatos institute, behind lawyer Luisa Gonzalez (26.6%), close to former left-wing president Rafael Correa.
threats against him
The previous week, Villavicencio had denounced the threats against him and his campaign team, allegedly made by the leader of a criminal gang linked to drug trafficking currently in prison. “Despite the new threats, we will continue to fight for the brave people of our #Ecuador,” the former deputy wrote on X, the new name of Twitter. He said he had received a “very serious threat” from “alias Fito”, leader of the “Los Choneros” band.
???????? Days before he was assassinated, the recently assassinated candidate for the presidency of Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio, reported that he was receiving threats from Alias Fito, leader of the Los Choneros cartel. pic.twitter.com/GzgTICZG4f
— Political Axis (@eixopolitico) August 10, 2023
The main local newspaper, The universe, claimed that Villavicencio had been murdered “by the method of the sicarios (hit men), with three bullets in the head”. According to information from this media, this shooting would have caused an unknown number of injuries. Physician Carlos Figueroa, a friend of the victim present at the scene at the time of the assassination, told the press that he had heard around 30 gunshots. “They ambushed him outside” the room where he held his meeting, he explained. “Some (of the witnesses) believed in fireworks”. Police detonated an explosive device that had been planted in the area of the attack, said Alain Luna, head of investigations for the security forces.
“Organized crime has gone very far”
After this tragedy, the reactions in the country were numerous. “I am outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” President Guillermo Lasso wrote on X. “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” he promised. Before adding: “Organized crime has gone very far, but the full weight of the law will fall on it. »
Guillermo Lasso urgently convened a meeting in the evening of senior security officials and public institutions such as the National Court of Justice (CNJ), the highest court in the country. The president of the CNJ, Ivan Saquicela, also expressed himself: “I am really hurt and very concerned for Ecuador. »
Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. My solidarity and my condolences with his wife and his daughters. For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished.
The Security Cabinet will meet in…
— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) August 10, 2023
In recent years, Ecuador has faced a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking which, in the midst of the electoral process, has already resulted in the death of a mayor and a candidate for Parliament. The president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Diana Atamaint, had also indicated on Wednesday that several members of this authority responsible for supervising the ballot had received death threats. The number of homicides per 100,000 population stood at 25 in 2022 in the country, almost double compared to 2021.
No postponement of the election
When he was chairman of the commission in charge of taxation in the Assembly dissolved by Lasso in May, Fernando Villavicencio regularly denounced cases of corruption, as he was used to during his career as a journalist. In particular, he contributed, in one of his investigations, to uncovering a vast network of corruption involving ex-president Rafael Correa (2007-2017) who was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. Correa is now a refugee in Belgium.
After the death of Villavicencio, Luisa Gonzalez, the left-wing indigenous leader Yaku Perez (third in the polls with 12.5% of the voting intentions), the right-wing former vice-president Otto Sonnenholzner (4th at 7.5%) and Jan Topic (right, 6th at 4.4%), announced the suspension of their campaign. But the date of the elections was maintained. This is what the constitutionalist predicted Ismael Quintana sur X. He explained that it “is up to the political organization to replace him with another candidate”.
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