Fernando Villavicencio
by the El Reportero‘s wire services
The Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, confirmed the death on his social networks of Fernando Villavicencio, which takes place less than two weeks before the elections, set for Aug. 20.
Images broadcast on social networks and local television stations allow us to see how the candidate for the leadership of the Executive got into a car when the shots began.
His personal friend and campaign adviser, Carlos Figueroa, testified that he was shot three times in the head and other witnesses indicated that a burst of shots was heard.
The incident occurred around 6:20 p.m. (local time) and left other people injured, although no other details are known at this time.
The National Police mounted an operation to locate those responsible for the event and closed the streets surrounding the site.
In his final speech before he was assassinated, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the country’s “thieves.”
Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, one of a host of international organized crime groups now operating in Ecuador. He said that his campaign represented a threat to those groups.
“Here I am showing my face. I’m not afraid of them,” Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss José Adolfo Macías by his alias “Fito.”
Villavicencio was one of the eight candidates, although not the favorite. The 59-year-old politician was the candidate of the Let’s Build Ecuador Movement.
Supporter Ida Páez said Villavicencio’s campaign had given her hope that the country could defeat the gangs. At the rally, she said: “We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with people, they are messing with my family”.
As drug traffickers have begun using the country’s coastal ports, Ecuadorians have been reeling from violence not seen in decades. The sounds of gunshots ring out in many major cities as rival gangs fight for control and the gangs have recruited children. Last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot dead. On July 26, Lasso declared a state of emergency in two provinces and the country’s prison system in an effort to stop the violence.
Ecuador is suffering an unprecedented wave of insecurity, with acts of political violence that have claimed the lives of dozens of officials and candidates for public office.
The presidential candidate Luisa González, of the Citizen Revolution, spoke on social networks and expressed her indignation with the “terrible news of the attack.”
This mourns us all, my supportive hug to all his family and co-idearies. This vile act will not go unpunished!, said González.
Yaku Pérez, another of the applicants, was also outraged, suspended his electoral campaign and called on the rest of the contenders to a social pact for security.
Villavicencio, 59, was a journalist and assembly member, headed the Oversight Commission of Parliament and, although in recent times he denied it, he was very close to President Guillermo Lasso.
