A candidate in Ecuador’s forthcoming presidential election who campaigned against corruption and gangs has been shot dead at a campaign rally.
Fernando Villavicencio, a member of the country’s national assembly, was attacked as he left the event in the capital, Quito, on Wednesday.
He is one of the few candidates to allege links between organised crime and government officials in Ecuador.
6 SUSPECTS ARRESTED
President Guillermo Lasso said organised crime was behind the killing.
Ecuador has historically been a relatively safe and stable country in Latin America, but crime has shot up in recent years, fuelled by the growing presence of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, which have infiltrated local criminal gangs.
Fernando Villavicencio had received threats from a gang calling itself Los Choneros last month and had been given a security detail.
Following his murder, a video appeared on social media in which heavily armed men wearing balaclavas claimed responsibility for the murder. The men claim to belong to Los Lobos (The Wolves), who are rivals of Los Choneros.
But hours later, another video appeared online in which another group of men – this time not wearing masks – claimed they were Los Lobos and denied they had played a role in the assassination, claiming the other video was an attempt by their rivals to set them up for the murder.
Both gangs wield considerable power and the violence they have sowed has been one of the key concerns of Ecuadoreans ahead of presidential elections on 20 August.
Mr Villavicencio, who was married and had five children, was one of eight candidates in the first round of the election – although he was not the front runner and was polling around the middle of the pack.
Ecuador: The basics
Where is Ecuador?
It’s the smallest of the Andean nations in South America, sitting on the equator (hence the name) between Colombia and Peru.
Why was Mr Villavicencio shot?
He was one of eight candidates in the running for the first round of the election with a focus on fighting corruption – and he and his team had been threatened by the leader of a gang linked to drug-trafficking.
What next?
Once a relatively peaceful nation, Ecuador has been ravaged by the arrival of international drug cartels profiting from a boom in cocaine trafficking – and the issue can only grow in importance in the presidential election campaign.
Mr Villavicencio, a serving congressman and former journalist, had condemned what he said was the lenient approach to the gangs, saying that were he to come to power, there would be a crackdown.
He is not the first politician to be assassinated. Last month, the mayor of the city of Manta was shot dead, while in February, a candidate for mayor in the city of Puerto López was killed.
But the shooting of a presidential candidate at a public event in the capital is the most brazen attack so far and shocking testimony to the strength of the gangs.
Witnesses say Mr Villavicencio was attacked as he was leaving a campaign event at about 18:20 (00:20 GMT) local time.
The event was held in Quito’s financial district, in a building which had previously housed a school.
A burst of gunfire could be heard as the 59-year-old was getting into a car outside the building where, just moments before, he had been meeting voters.
Mr Villavicencio’s uncle, Galo Valencia, described the moment his nephew was killed: “We were just a few metres from the school when we were hit by a hail of about 40 bullets.”
Mr Valencia said his nephew had been hit by three bullets in the head.
Carlos Figueroa, another witness, said that “30 seconds after he [Fernando Villavicencio] left through the main door, the shots started”.
Video from inside the building shows panicked supporters diving for cover. In the chaos, nine other people were injured, including a candidate for the country’s assembly and two police officers, prosecutors said.
The suspect was also shot in an exchange of bullets with security and later died from his injuries, the country’s attorney general said on social media. Six people have been detained by police in connection with the assassination after raids in Quito, they added.
A state of emergency has been declared and current President Guillermo Lasso has vowed the “crime will not go unpunished”.
Mr Lasso, who will not be on the ballot, said he was “outraged and shocked” by the killing, adding: “Organised crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law is going to fall on them.”
The frontrunner in the polls, Luisa González shared her “solidarity” with Mr Villavicencio’s family, adding: “This vile act will not go unpunished.”
Former vice-president and fellow candidate Otto Sonnenholzner also sent his “deepest condolences and deep solidarity” to Mr Villavicencio’s family. “May God keep him in his glory,” he wrote. “Our country has got out of hand.”
