2023-08-10 22:30:00
INTERNATIONAL – A presidential candidate in Ecuador has been assassinated. Fernando Villavicencio, journalist and former member of the National Assembly, was shot dead on Wednesday August 9, 2023 in Quito, at the end of an electoral rally. President Guillermo Lasso has instituted a state of emergency for 60 days, in order to ensure the holding of the ballot in which he does not participate, after having been subject to an impeachment procedure. Villavicencio, one of the eight candidates in the first round of these presidential elections, whose program targets white-collar crime, had reported “serious threats” from organized crime. In a video not yet authenticated at this time, one of the largest Ecuadorian gangs, named “The Wolves” (Les Loups), claims the murder on social networks. Subsequently, in another video, members claiming to be from the same gang, with their faces uncovered, firmly denied involvement in the attack. Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemns this “terrible murder” and calls for a “transparent investigation” to find those responsible.
According to the latest surveys from the Ecuadorian Institute cedates, 13% of voting intentions were for Fernando Villavicencio. A dynamic seemed to be emerging for the representative of the center-right parties build et Good people, however, until then preceded by the far-left candidate of the Movimiento Revolución Ciudadana, well ahead of the surveys a month earlier (26.6%).
Aged 59, this journalist by training began his professional career as a communicator within the public oil group Petroecuador. He then joined the editorial staff of the daily The universe and collaborates with the magazine The vanguard. Activist within the indigenous movement Pachakutik (Movement of Plurinational Unity) since 1995, he has been involved in the trade union struggle and has become administrator of the Federation of Petroleum Workers (Fetrapec). After getting closer to left-wing political formations, he was appointed chairman of the committee in charge of taxation in the Assembly, under the government of former left-wing president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), today sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison and taken refuge in Belgium. Villavicencio defended a program dedicated to the fight against white-collar crime and against unemployment.
State of emergency introduced
On Wednesday August 9, Villavicencio hosted an electoral rally in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, one of the smallest countries in South America, facing a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking and source of an increase of street crime.
According to a video filmed at the time of the assassination, several shots were fired at the end of the meeting, between the moment when the candidate left the sports hall and his getting into a car, yet surrounded by his bodyguards. According to The universethe former member of the Ecuadorian National Assembly was assassinated in the style of hitmen (hitmen, editor’s note), with “three bullets to the head”. One of his friends present at the scene, the doctor Carlos Figueroa, explained that he heard about thirty gunshots.“They ambushed him outside” room, he says.
The former journalist announced last week that he was the subject of “serious threats” from a leader of a criminal gang linked to drug trafficking, who is currently in prison. “Despite the new threats, we will continue to fight for the brave people of our Ecuador”he said.
The prosecution announced “nine injured”, including a candidate for the Assembly and two police officers. One of the assailants was killed by security and the police arrested six people during arrests carried out in a southern district of Quito and a neighboring village. Fernando Villavicencio’s body was taken to the police forensic department for autopsy.
The news of his death sent shockwaves through Ecuador, where presidential candidates, including Luisa Gonzalez, announced they were suspending their campaigns. President Guillermo Lasso, “indignant and shocked”announced the establishment of a state of emergency for a period of 60 days. “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished”he promised for the “memory” et “the fight” from the victims. “Organized crime has gone very far, but the full weight of the law will fall on it”he added in a tweet.
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
Elections upheld, assassination condemned
Lasso also announced that he had convened an emergency meeting on Wednesday evening of senior security officials and public institutions such as the National Court of Justice (CNJ), the country’s highest court.
The presidential elections were maintained on August 20. These were anticipated after the dissolution of the Assembly last May by the current president, to escape dismissal proceedings against him for corruption. While Guillermo Lasso has since exercised power by decree, “the armed forces are currently mobilized throughout the national territory in order to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility of the country and free and democratic elections”, explains his administration.
Several countries and organizations have condemned the assassination. The United States Embassy in Quito denounced a “brazen attack on democracy and the rule of law”. The Ambassador of the European Union, Charles-Michel Geurts, said to himself “horrified”, him and his partners in this “tragic attack”. The United Kingdom expressed its great sadness while Spain, which “regretted and condemned” the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, supported the continuation of the electoral process.
“The assassination of Mr. Fernando Villavicencio, candidate for the Ecuadorian presidential elections, which occurred on August 9 is a barbaric act and an attack on democracy that we condemn in the strongest terms,” French diplomacy reacts.
#Ecuador | The assassination of Mr. Fernando Villavicencio, candidate for the Ecuadorian presidential elections, which occurred on August 9 is a barbaric act and an attack on democracy that we condemn in the strongest terms.
— France Diplomacy???????????????? (@francediplo) August 10, 2023
He is not the first candidate for an election to be killed in Ecuador. A mayor and a parliamentary candidate have already been killed in the drug-trafficking violence that is rocking the country. Diana Atamaint, head of the National Elections Council, said that several of her collaborators have received death threats.
In a video posted on social media, a gang named “Los Lobos” claimed responsibility for the assassination. If this source has not yet been authenticated, and the link with the murder of Villavicencio remains to be established, another presidential candidate has been directly threatened: Jan Topic, committed to the fight against crime and drug traffickers. The participants in this declaration all have their faces masked, using the same distinctive sign.
‘Los Lobos’: the gang of eight thousand hit men who kill for control of Ecuador. This is the criminal group that claims the murder of the presidential candidate
— El HuffPost (@ElHuffPost) August 10, 2023
A few hours later, a twist: in another video, this time shot by men with uncovered faces who claim from the same gang “Lobos”, these deniers firmly denied being at the origin of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio .
Following the murder of Fernando Villavicencio, the ‘Los Lobos’ organization released a statement clarifying that the video circulating on social media, which they claimed attributed to the candidate’s death, is INCORRECT#Clarification #FernandoVillavicencio pic.twitter.com/t7MTsXFFqH
— Global News Alerts (@WorldNewsFlare) August 10, 2023
In an interview delivered to Release this Thursday, August 10, political scientist Régis Dandoy, associate researcher at theSt Francis University from Quito in Ecuador, a specialist in local and regional elections, this assassination is “very surprising” Dear Villavicencio “was not a leading candidate” and had “very unlikely to be able to qualify for the second round”, thus weighting the latest polls carried out by Cedatos. “His assassination raises a lot of questions”, he said, hesitating between the hypothesis of a “settling scores” or “of a desire to weaken the electoral process”. “Ecuadorian democracy did not deserve this”, he lamented.
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