Second politician shot dead in Ecuador in a week

In Ecuador, unidentified people killed the leader of the opposition political movement “Civil Revolution” Pedro Briones. This was announced by the presidential candidate of the movement Luis Gonzalez in X (formerly Twitter).

“Ecuador is going through its bloodiest period. We owe this to the complete rejection of the inept government and the state captured by the mafia. I express my solidarity with the family of comrade Pedro Briones, who was the victim of a wave of violence,” the politician wrote, calling for “immediate change.”

Newspaper Expresso writesthat the murder took place on August 14 in the province of Esmeraldas. According to Briones’ wife, two unidentified men drove up on a motorcycle to the politician’s house, shot him several times, and then fled. Briones was taken to the hospital with no signs of life, the newspaper notes, citing a police report.

According to preliminary information, the leader of the movement was killed by members of a gang extorting money from him. The police are checking to see if Briones has received threats for other reasons.

August 9th in Ecuador was killed Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Unidentified persons shot him three times in the head after an election rally in the capital of the Republic of Quito, which was held at Coliseo TW Anderson. A few weeks earlier, Villavicencio had reported threats against him.

Assassination attempts on politicians took place in Ecuador a few days before the presidential elections. In May, incumbent head of state Guillermo Lasso dissolved National Assembly and called for elections. Early presidential and parliamentary elections in Ecuador are scheduled for August 20.