A popular Ecuadoran presidential candidate was shot dead
while leaving a rally in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, prompting President
Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency and blame the assassination on
organised crime.
Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old anti-corruption
crusader who had complained of receiving threats, was murdered as he was
leaving a stadium in Quito after holding a campaign rally, officials said.
Lasso declared a two-month state of emergency early Thursday
following the assassination but said general elections slated for August 20
would be held as scheduled.
“Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential
candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” the president said in a statement on X,
formerly known as Twitter, blaming the killing on “organised crime.”
“For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this
crime will not go unpunished.”
Villavicencio was the second most popular candidate in the
presidential race, according to recent opinion polls.
“The Armed Forces as of this moment are mobilised throughout
the national territory to guarantee the security of citizens, the tranquility
of the country and the free and democratic elections of August 20,” Lasso said
in a YouTube address.
The president also declared three days of national mourning
“to honour the memory of a patriot, Fernando Villavicencio Valencia.”
“This is a political crime that acquires a terrorist
character and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the
electoral process,” he added.
Lasso has said he will not seek re-election.
President of the National Electoral Council, Diana Atamaint
said: “the date of the elections scheduled for August 20 remains unalterable.”
Nine other people were injured in the shooting attack,
including a candidate running for the national legislature and two policemen,
prosecutors said.
One of the alleged attackers was shot and killed by security
personnel. And police detonated an explosive device planted in the area, said
chief investigator Alain Luna.
Carlos Figueroa, a friend of Villavicencio’s who was with
him at the time of the attack, told local media that the assailants fired
around 30 shots.
“They ambushed him outside” the sports centre, Figueroa
said. “Some (of those present) even thought they were fireworks.”
The country’s main newspaper, El Universo, reported that
Villavicencio was assassinated “hitman-style and with three shots to the head.”
Prosecutors later said six other suspects were arrested in
raids carried out in southern Quito and in a neighboring town, and that
Villavicencio’s body was brought to a police department and would undergo an
autopsy.
‘Full weight of the
law’
In recent years, Ecuador has been hit by 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 parliamentary candidate.
The homicide rate has doubled between 2021 and 2022.
“Organised crime has gone too far, but the full weight of
the law will be applied to them,” Lasso said in his post.
According to the latest polls, Villavicencio, a former
journalist who wrote about corruption and served in parliament, polled at 13
per cent behind lawyer Luisa Gonzalez, who is close to former left-wing president,
Rafael Correa.
Gonzalez and other presidential candidates denounced the
murder and said they were suspending their campaigns, local media reported.
“We will never allow such acts to go unpunished. When they
touch one, they touch all. When one’s life is at risk, everyone’s life is at
risk,” Gonzalez wrote on X.
National Court of Justice president Ivan Saquicela called
Villavicencio’s murder “very painful for the country.”
“I am very hurt and very worried about Ecuador,” he said.
The United States, Spain, Chile and the Organisation of
American States observer mission have also condemned the crime.
“We are horrified by the tragic attack… Violence cannot win.
Democracy can,” European Union ambassador to Ecuador, Charles-Michel Geurts,
said on X.
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