A presidential candidate who fought against corruption was shot in Ecuador: “They killed democracy”

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead as he left a campaign event in Quito, just days before an election in which the country’s slide into violence and crime is central.

Social media videos show Villavicencio, a former journalist who has worked for The Guardian and has been open about alleged links between organized crime and politics, surrounded by supporters and escorted by security guards to a waiting car. At that moment, shots are fired, and people start screaming and hiding from the bullets…

President Guillermo Lasso said he was “outraged and shocked by the assassination” and would convene a meeting of his security cabinet. “For the sake of his memory and his struggle, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” the head of state said.

The murder suspect died from injuries sustained in the ensuing shootout, the prosecutor general’s office later said, and six arrests were made in connection with the attack.

Speaking at the scene of the shooting, Villavicencio’s uncle, Galo Valencia, accused the state of not providing enough security for his nephew and described how he thought at first that the shots were fireworks set off by supporters until “we saw the wounded falling , blood is shed, wounded people are all around.

“What we witnessed was like a horror movie. Death of my relative. I have no words to describe what is happening in the country. They just killed democracy,” he said. “What insecurity do we live in… when the person who fought for over 20 years, who is most likely to win the election, is silenced. Is this the way to win the elections?”

The assassination of a presidential candidate comes amid a shocking surge in violent crime in the small South American country as rival drug gangs carry out mass murders in prisons, with the number of murders more than doubling between 2020 and 2022. President Lasso said after Wednesday’s assassination: “Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the brunt of the law.”

Villavicencio was one of eight presidential candidates running in the early elections scheduled for August 20. More than half of Ecuadorians said in a survey that addressing the country’s insecurity is their top priority.

One of the witnesses of the attack said that at first he thought that the shots were fireworks. “We never imagined the tragedy in which we now live in this country. This is terrorism. If this can happen to a candidate who supposedly had security and contacts, then anyone can be killed. It sends a clear message that life is worthless here.”

Just days before his assassination, Villavicencio, aged 59, said on national television that he had received several death threats that he said came from an imprisoned leader of the Choneros gang, known as “Alias ​​Fito.” ordering him to leave, mentioning his name.

Fernando Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was the candidate of the Build Ecuador movement. He was a former union member for the state oil company Petroecuador and later a journalist who denounced alleged multi-million dollar losses on oil contracts.

Villavicencio was one of the most vocal opponents of corruption, especially during the administration of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation in connection with statements made against the former president.

“Ecuador has become a failed state,” Correa tweeted after Wednesday’s assassination. “Those who seek to sow more hatred with this new tragedy, I hope they understand that this only continues to destroy us.”

In 2014, Villavicencio fled to indigenous territory in Ecuador and later, in 2017, was granted asylum in Peru. Villavicencio spent time in the local Kichwa community at Sarayaku on the Amazon in Ecuador. Upon learning of his murder, community leader Patricia Gualinga said, “I am crying and very sad because he was my personal friend.”

“Sarayaku gave him asylum,” Gualinga, an indigenous activist, told The Guardian. “Fernando said that if we turn him over to the authorities, he will not survive.”

As a lawmaker, Villavicencio has come under fire from opposition politicians for obstructing President Lasso’s impeachment process this year, forcing the latter to call an early election.