World News
Video: Ecuador presidential candidate Villavicencio assassinated at campaign event
A candidate in Ecuador’s upcoming presidential election, Fernando Villavicencio, was assassinated at a campaign event in the capital Wednesday as a deadly escalation of violence and crime grips the South American country. Six foreign nationals have been arrested in connection with the killing.
Villavicencio was fatally shot as he was leaving a campaign rally at a school north of the capital Quito, 10 days before the first round of the presidential election was set to take place. He was 59 years old.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso vowed the killing would not go unpunished, saying that “organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on them.” Lasso announced a state of emergency for 60 days, an immediate mobilization of the armed forces across the country and three days of national mourning.
The election, scheduled for August 20, will go ahead as planned, the Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint said Thursday.
A legislator in the National Assembly, Villavicencio had been outspoken about corruption and the violence caused by drug trafficking in the country, telling CNN En Español Conclusiones in May that Ecuador had become a “narco state” as he proposed to lead a fight against what he called the “political mafia.”
Opinion polls had Villavicencio in the middle of the pack of the eight candidates, far behind the frontrunner Luisa González.
Alleged gunman dead, six others arrested
The suspected gunman died in police custody following an exchange of fire with security personnel, Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Six others have since been arrested in connection with the killing, interior minister Juan Zapata said in a news conference Thursday morning, noting that all are foreign nationals. A photo of them with their hands tied and backs against a wall was also shown.
The men are members of organized criminal groups, Zapata said, citing preliminary evidence.
During overnight raids authorities also found a rifle, a machine gun, four pistols, three grenades, two rifle magazines, four boxes of ammunition, two motorcycles, and a stolen vehicle believed to have been used by the men, he said.
Authorities’ investigation into the attack is ongoing. Nine other people, including a candidate for the National Assembly and two police officers, were also injured in the attack.
