2023-08-12 01:40:36
LOOK: Who is alias ‘Fito’, the leader of Los Choneros who threatened the assassinated Fernando Villavicencio
One day following the 59-year-old former congressman and journalist known for his fight once morest corruption and organized crime was shot to death at the end of a rally, Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country. , hit by an increase in violence from drug trafficking and organized crime.
Lasso also ordered three days of national mourning to honor the memory of Villavicencio, whose body was intimately watched over by his family at a funeral home in northern Quito. A handful of supporters in white polo shirts and flowers approached the scene with signs that read “They killed my president.”
Villavicencio was one of the eight presidential candidates registered in these extraordinary elections, called for Sunday the 20th, following Lasso decreed in May the “cross death”, a mechanism provided for in the Constitution with which he dissolved the National Assembly (Parliament), opposition majority, when he was preparing to vote for his dismissal.
The murder caused outrage inside and outside Ecuador not only because of the harshness of the images of the crime, but also because Villavicencio himself had persistently warned that he had received threats once morest him and his campaign team.
Villavicencio had indicated that he was the target of threats from the largest criminal organization in Ecuador, Los Choneros, whose ringleader is in custody.
The newspaper “El Universo” pointed out that Villavicencio was assassinated “in the hit-man style and with three shots to the head.” The attack also left nine injured, including a candidate for assembly and three police officers. An alleged attacker also died, according to the prosecution.
The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio is the latest in a series of acts of violence that have marred the Ecuadorian electoral campaign.
Given the shock, Lasso announced that the US federal police (FBI) will support Ecuador in the investigations into the murder. “In the next few hours a delegation will arrive in the country,” he said on the X social network (formerly Twitter) without giving further details.
detained foreigners
The Construye movement, which supported Villavicencio’s candidacy, described the murder as cowardly and anticipated that it will form a team to monitor the legal process and demand that “an international commission be formed to be part of the investigation of this assassination.”
“We are not going to allow drug politics to continue rampant and mock justice once once more,” he said in a statement.
CRIME ON THE RISE
Violent deaths in Ecuador have grown along with drug seizures. The country closed 2022 with a rate of 25 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double that of 2021. An aspiring deputy was also murdered during this electoral campaign, as were two mayoral candidates before the local elections in February.
Meanwhile, the Ecuadorian Police reported that the six arrested for the murder of Villavicencio are Colombian nationals, as well as the man who died at the scene.
So far, the authorities have revealed that several men, allegedly hitmen, participated in the crime.
Lasso attributed Villavicencio’s murder to organized crime, although until now the authorities have not given more details regarding the motive and the possible group behind the attack.
The 6 Colombians detained in Ecuador for the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
Gabriela Vivanco, director of the Ecuadorian newspaper “La Hora”, told El Comercio that there are many theories regarding the motives and perpetrators of the murder, but no proven information.
“There is a lot of uncertainty because Fernando Villavicencio was a candidate who had a strong discourse once morest corruption in general and we have had corruption in all governments. He also had a very strong speech once morest drug trafficking and organized crime gangs, which are the ones that operate and move micro-trafficking in various parts of the country and that are very active in the issue of hit men and other acts of violence, ”he affirms. .
He points out that acts of political violence have been occurring in Ecuador that had already set off alarms. “The violence in the streets was already tremendous, there are constant riots in the prisons with people being murdered and beheaded, but the political violence has been escalating. Citizens were already very concerned and what happened with Villavicencio is a step that has removed the political, economic and social spheres, ”he adds.
Shaking in the campaign
Villavicencio’s murder also had a direct impact on the electoral campaign, although the authorities announced that the date of the elections was maintained.
Several presidential candidates such as Yaku Pérez (indigenous leader from the left, third with 12.5%) and Otto Sonnenholzner (former vice president from the right, fourth with 7.5%) announced the suspension of their campaigns and deplored the assassination.
Villavicencio, from the Construye movement, was in fourth place in preferences with less than 10% intention to vote, although polls indicate that there is still 40% indecision. In another poll he ranked second.
Supporters of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio take to the streets proclaiming Villavicencio as “eternal president” following his assassination. (Photo: EFE / Santiago Fernández)
/ Santiago Fernandez
In the first place of preferences, the candidate of Correísmo, Luisa González, remains.
Construye asked that the mandatory debate between the applicants, scheduled for this Sunday the 13th, be deferred.
Vivanco emphasizes that citizens are afraid because the crime occurred when in the electoral sphere there was no clear picture of who was going to enter the second round.
“It really was a very uncertain electoral scenario. A poll put Fernando Villavicencio in second place following the correísmo candidate, but, in general, he placed second, third and fourth place depending on the poll, ”he points out.
In addition, he explains that attention is now focused on what the Construye movement is going to do, which might withdraw from the race or elect another representative to seek the presidency.
“The candidate for vice president is a person with a very low profile, she is an environmentalist who has no political experience and it would be very rare for her to assume the presidential candidacy. Now, the head of the list for the next National Assembly of the Construye movement is Patricio Carrillo, who was a minister in the Lasso government and who is a very hard-line ex-military man in handling violence and organized crime. He might be an option because people demand a strong hand, ”he points out.
The other option would be for the party to decide to support another candidacy. The particularity of Fernando Villavicencio’s candidacy, explains the expert, was that he did not have a constituted party, but was part of an alliance of different forces and now it is in doubt whether they will manage to maintain cohesion in a presidential candidacy.
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