2023-08-10 04:21:18
The presidential campaign in Ecuador is hit by violence. Candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead at the end of an electoral rally on Wednesday evening in Quito, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced.
Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old centrist, was one of eight candidates in the first round of presidential elections scheduled for August 20. According to the latest polls, he ranked second in voting intentions with around 13%, behind lawyer Luisa Gonzalez, close to former left-wing president Rafael Correa.
“Organized crime has gone very far”
“I am outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” President Lasso wrote on social network X. “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” he promised. “Organized crime has gone very far, but the full weight of the law will fall on them,” he added. Guillermo Lasso also urgently called a meeting of senior security officials in the evening.
In recent years, Ecuador has been confronted with a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking which, in the midst of the electoral process, has already led to 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.
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