2023-08-10 07:57:26
Shock in Ecuador. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated this Wednesday during a shootout while he was carrying out a campaign event in a central sector of Quito, relatives of the candidate reported. The Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, confirmed the information and assured that the attack was perpetrated by hitmen. In addition, there were at least 9 injuries.
WATCH THE LIVE TRANSMISSION HERE:
Carlos Figueroa, a personal friend of Villavicencio, assured in a video broadcast on social networks that the candidate died following being shot, despite the fact that he had been transferred to the Women’s Clinic, a medical center near the site of the shooting.
LOOK: Ecuador: video captures the moment of the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio
At the moment, the authorities have not provided official information or more details regarding the event that occurred at the end of the followingnoon on the outskirts of a coliseum where Villavicencio had gathered supporters within the framework of the electoral campaign ahead of the elections on August 20. .
Fernando Villavicencio, 59, was one of the eight candidates in the first round of the presidential elections in Ecuador, a country that is experiencing an increase in violence linked to drug trafficking.
LOOK: Why did Daniel Sancho kill and dismember the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta? These are the hypotheses
Villavicencio, identified as a staunch critic of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), was mobilizing with police protection in the face of threats he had received weeks before.
In addition to Villavicencio, the environmentalist Yaku Pérez, the correísta Luisa González, the security expert Jan Topic, the former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, the politician Daniel Hervas, the businessman Daniel Noboa and the independent Bolívar Armijos had registered for the presidential elections. EFE
According to information from local media, special agents were investigating the possibility of placing an explosive device in the coliseum of an educational unit in which the candidate was proselytizing.
The President of the Republic Guillermo Lasso reacted to the event and was “outraged and dismayed” by the murder.
“The Security Cabinet will meet in a few minutes in Carondelet (…) Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on them,” he said through an official message broadcast at 7:00 p.m.: 29 this Wednesday.
Villavicencio’s murder occurred at a time when the country is experiencing an escalation of violence due to the action of criminal gangs.
Multiple reports of murders, massacres, extortions, attacks with explosives, among other crimes, are reproduced daily, which have sown terror among Ecuadorians who have suffered from this type of violent acts for a little over two years.
Ecuador closed 2022 with the highest rate of violent deaths in its history, registering 25.32 per 100,000 inhabitants, the vast majority associated, according to the Government, to organized crime and drug trafficking, which has gained strength on the coast and has turned to ports into large springboards for cocaine reaching Europe and North America.
Precisely, the fight once morest crime has been one of the main promises of the candidates who aspire to succeed the conservative Guillermo Lasso as president in the extraordinary general elections called for next Sunday, August 20.
In addition to Villavicencio, the environmentalist Yaku Pérez, the correísta Luisa González, the security expert Jan Topic, the former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, the politician Daniel Hervas, the businessman Daniel Noboa and the independent Bolívar Armijos had registered for the presidential elections.
1691656495
#Fernando #Villavicencio #LIVE #Ecuador #Hitmen #shoot #presidential #candidate #Quito #Carlos #Figueroa #Anderson #College #BuildGood #People #Guillermo #Lasso #Latest #VIDEOS #WORLD