A prosecutor of Ecuador was assassinated by gunmen in one of the most violent cities in the country, Durán, a neighbor of Guayaquil, on the same day that the head of the State Attorney General’s Office received death threats, reported the Public Ministry.
The tax agent Leonardo Palacios He died “after an attack perpetrated against him today,” says a statement from the Prosecutor’s Office quoted by the AFP news agency.
The text adds that the official was attacked after attending “a trial hearing against two defendants for murder” while driving, at which time he was intercepted by men who opened fire.
Authorities have collected more than 40 ballistic evidence at the crime scene.
Jorge Hadathy, Durán police chief, told journalists that a secretary of the prosecutor’s office was in the car, who was unharmed.
The prosecutor’s crime occurs the same day that the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar, received death threats through a video sent by WhatsApp and that was released by local media.
In it appear at least six people armed with rifles and dressed in black and with caps that cover their faces.
“You’re about to have a birthday, I don’t want to ruin your party by killing your daughter,” says the male voice in the video received by the prosecutor.
While the armed men point their rifles at the ground, one also hears: “If you don’t go by force, you’ll go by force and by force I’ll send you to hell to celebrate.”
Ecuador faces an increase in criminal violence and drug trafficking, with a homicide rate of 25 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Last year two prosecutors and a judge were shot to death in different parts of the country.
Following the denunciation of the death threats against Salazar, the Ministry of the Interior ordered to reinforce the security of the official known for having prosecuted former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) for corruption.
Source: Ambito
