2023-08-18 17:34:32
Relatives of the Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated last week, Fernando Villavicencio, filed a complaint this Friday for the crime of “murder by intentional omission” against the head of state, Guillermo Lasso, as a representative of the state, and against other authorities.
The complaint is also directed against the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, and the General Commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, among others, for considering that the security protocols and the complete protection that Villavicencio should have, who had a risk level of 97%, determined by the Police itself.
Marco Yaulema, the family’s lawyer, recalled that Villavicencio had been conducting investigations since 2007, including some related to acts of corruption in public State institutions.
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According to the lawyer, Villavicencio carried out “around 200 investigations and denunciations of corruption”, wrote some eleven books on the same subjects and “endured one of the greatest persecutions in both the political and judicial spheres.”
A week before his murder, when leaving a political rally in Quito, Villavicencio had denounced threats against him and had asserted that there were police officers in the police institution who were allegedly associated with the mafia.
(Also read: Who was David Castillo, the Colombian hitman killed by Villavicencio’s escorts?)
Yaulema questioned the security protocols applied on August 9, when Villavicencio was murdered when he entered the back of a double-cab truck, which was on the street, which was not armored and did not have a driver, while the vehicle that did It was armored, it was two minutes away from arriving, according to what he said.
“Oh surprise, they didn’t wait these two minutes, they moved Fernando Villavicencio holding his arms, with a bottle in his left hand, I don’t know what substance, held by police officers by the arms, preventing his mobility,” he said.
He added that there was not an adequate number of guards, although the Police said that Villavicencio had three security rings.
(You can read: Murder of Villavicencio, breaking point of the drug challenge that hits Ecuador)
“When he was already in the back seat, he received two bullets to the face and one to the brain,” he explained, emphasizing that “there was an intentional omission, the Ecuadorian State did not fulfill its role as guarantor,” for which they filed the complaint for the crime of murder by willful omission, punishable by up to 26 years in prison.
The lawyer stressed that they will go to international organizations if necessary because they do not trust the country’s justice system. And he added that it is a state crime. “They abandoned a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, because one way to commit an act is to abandon a person,” he emphasized.
In a press conference, in which the eldest daughter, two brothers, her uncle and Patricia Barragán, who was shot during the attack on Villavicencio, were present, Yaulema also questioned whether the person suspected of having shot had not been immediately transferred to a house of health with custody, but taken to facilities of the Prosecutor’s Office, where he died.
If he (Lasso) really wanted to protect Fernando Villavicencio, he had to have carried out suitable policies
Yaulema pointed out that the family nucleus and those close to Villavicencio need urgent protection, and warned that if something happens to them, “the State will be responsible”, due to omission.
(Keep reading: The legacy of Fernando Villavicencio, the standard bearer against corruption in Ecuador)
Upon learning of the murder, Lasso expressed his condolences and said that the crime will not go unpunished. “If he (Lasso) really wanted to protect Fernando Villavicencio, he should have carried out suitable policies that he did not do,” the lawyer commented. At the same time, he added that Guillermo Lasso breached article 147 of the Constitution that places him as the highest authority of the Ecuadorian public force.
Next Sunday, Ecuadorians will go to the polls to vote in a national popular consultation and a local one on environmental issues and to designate who will complete the presidential term for which Lasso was elected (2021-2025).
*With EFE
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