Candidate in Ecuador’s presidential election Fernando Villavicencio shot dead

A candidate in Ecuador’s forthcoming presidential election who campaigned in opposition to corruption and gangs has been shot lifeless at a marketing campaign rally.

Fernando Villavicencio, a member of the nation’s nationwide meeting, was attacked as he left the occasion within the capital, Quito, on Wednesday.

He is among the few candidates to allege hyperlinks between organised crime and authorities officers in Ecuador.

President Guillermo Lasso mentioned organised crime was behind the killing.

Ecuador has traditionally been a comparatively protected and secure nation in Latin America, however crime has shot up in recent times, fuelled by the rising presence of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, which have infiltrated native prison gangs.

Fernando Villavicencio had acquired threats from a gang calling itself Los Choneros final month and had been given a safety element.

Following his homicide, a video appeared on social media during which closely armed males carrying balaclavas claimed accountability for the homicide. The lads declare to belong to Los Lobos (The Wolves), who’re rivals of Los Choneros.

However hours later, one other video appeared on-line during which one other group of males – this time not carrying masks – claimed they have been Los Lobos and denied that they had performed a job within the assassination, claiming the opposite video was an try by their rivals to set them up for the homicide.

Each gangs wield appreciable energy and the violence they’ve sowed has been one of many key considerations of Ecuadoreans forward of presidential elections on 20 August.

Mr Villavicencio, who was married and had 5 kids, was one in every of eight candidates within the first spherical of the election – though he was not the frontrunner and was polling across the center of the pack.

It is the smallest of the Andean nations in South America, sitting on the equator (therefore the title) between Colombia and Peru.

Why was Mr Villavicencio shot?

He was one in every of eight candidates within the working for the primary spherical of the election with a concentrate on combating corruption – and he and his group had been threatened by the chief of a gang linked to drug-trafficking.

As soon as a comparatively peaceable nation, Ecuador has been ravaged by the arrival of worldwide drug cartels taking advantage of a increase in cocaine trafficking – and the problem can solely develop in significance within the presidential election marketing campaign.

Mr Villavicencio, a serving congressman and former journalist, had condemned what he mentioned was the lenient method to the gangs, saying that have been he to come back to energy, there can be a crackdown.

He’s not the primary politician to be assassinated. Final month, the mayor of the city of Manta was shot lifeless, whereas in February, a candidate for mayor within the metropolis of Puerto López was killed.

However the taking pictures of a presidential candidate at a public occasion within the capital is essentially the most brazen assault to this point and stunning testimony to the power of the gangs.

Witnesses say Mr Villavicencio was attacked as he was leaving a marketing campaign occasion at about 18:20 (00:20 GMT) native time.

The occasion was held in Quito’s monetary district, in a constructing which had beforehand housed a faculty.

A burst of gunfire might be heard because the 59-year-old was getting right into a automotive outdoors the constructing the place, simply moments earlier than, he had been assembly voters.

Mr Villavicencio’s uncle, Galo Valencia, described the second his nephew was killed: “We have been only a few metres from the varsity after we have been hit by a hail of about 40 bullets.”

Mr Valencia mentioned his nephew had been hit by three bullets within the head.

Carlos Figueroa, one other witness, mentioned that “30 seconds after he [Fernando Villavicencio] left by means of the primary door, the pictures began”.

Video from contained in the constructing reveals panicked supporters diving for canopy. Within the chaos, 9 different individuals have been injured, together with a candidate for the nation’s meeting and two cops, prosecutors mentioned.

The suspect was additionally shot in an change of bullets with safety and later died from his accidents, the nation’s lawyer common mentioned on social media. Six individuals have been detained by police in reference to the assassination after raids in Quito, they added.

A state of emergency has been declared and present President Guillermo Lasso has vowed the “crime is not going to go unpunished”.

Mr Lasso, who is not going to be on the poll, mentioned he was “outraged and shocked” by the killing, including: “Organised crime has come a good distance, however the full weight of the regulation goes to fall on them.”

The frontrunner within the polls, Luisa González shared her “solidarity” with Mr Villavicencio’s household, including: “This vile act is not going to go unpunished.”

Former vice-president and fellow candidate Otto Sonnenholzner additionally despatched his “deepest condolences and deep solidarity” to Mr Villavicencio’s household. “Might God maintain him in his glory,” he wrote. “Our nation has acquired out of hand.”