Ecuador presidential candidate assassinated, suspect dead
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Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed on Wednesday evening during a campaign event in the north of the capital Quito, authorities said.Local media reported some 30 shots had been fired, while video posted on social media showed Villavicencio getting into a car after the event, before the sound of apparent gunfire and screaming.
Ecuador’s police and Interior Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the details of the killing.The attorney general’s office said a suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out.
The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers.The office later said it had arrested six people so far in connection with the crime during raids in Quito.”For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,” President Guillermo Lasso said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Organized crime have gone very far, but all the weight of the law will fall on them.
“Lasso’s government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others to move drugs.
He said he would host top security officials at an urgent meeting.
RISING VIOLENCE
Security concerns, along with employment and migration, are major voter concerns in the presidential vote set for August 20.Villavicencio had pledged to combat corruption and reduce tax evasion if elected. According to opinion polls, his support was at 7.5%, ranking him fifth out of eight candidates.
