The mayor of the coastal city of Manta in Ecuador, Augustine Intriagoand a woman were shot to death this Sunday when they were touring a construction site, authorities reported. The crime shocked the country and was classified by President Guillermo Lasso as an “attack”:
“Unfortunate news for the country: @agustinintriago, mayor of Manta, has died victim of an attack”, President Guillermo Lasso wrote on Twitter. Lasso also mourned the death of another person who accompanied the mayor at the event.
After the first reports, which spoke of the attack, the leader’s sister confirmed his death through a message on social networks.
“My brother has died. Pray for the rest of his soul. This crime cannot go unpunished, please. Let’s not let these wicked win,” Ana Intriago tweeted.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, the official was the victim of an “armed attack.”
Intriago, 37, was touring a public work accompanied by supporters when he was shot. The mayor had been re-elected for a new term in the elections last February.
“The Homeland is experiencing moments of horror and terror”, Leonardo Orlado, prefect of the province of Manabí, to which Manta belongs, said on Twitter.
Who was Agustin Intriago?
lawyer by profession, Agustín Intriago had been elected mayor of Manta in 2019 by the local force Ciudad Nueva. Later, in February of this year, he was re-elected to the position.
Previously, he had been a councilor between 2009 and 2014 for another local movement, called Sí Unidad Mantense.
He had two children and five siblings.
Violence in Ecuador
Manabí is the second province with the most murders in Ecuador behind Guayas, according to the Dinased police unit, in charge of investigating violent deaths and disappearances.
Between January and June, 370 homicides were registered in that province. In May, a prosecutor and her assistant were also murdered in Manta.
A candidate for assembly for the elections on August 20 was also shot dead a week ago in the province of Esmeraldas after leaving a political meeting.
Ecuador closed 2022 with a rate of 25.75 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the Dinased police unit, in charge of investigating violent deaths and disappearances.
That rate until June of this year was 18 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Riot in Guayaquil: five dead
The mayor’s crime occurred amid a worrying escalation of violence in Ecuador. In parallel to the event, five prisoners died and 11 others were injured as a result of a fight between gangs in a prison in the city of Guayaquil, while security agents were held by inmates in other prisons, the government reported on Sunday.
The clashes between organized crime groups (GDO) were recorded between Saturday afternoon and Sunday at the Guayas Deprivation of Liberty Center Number 1, said an official note, which reported that a crisis committee was activated between the police, armed forces and prison surveillance bodies.
“In view of the clashes between the GDO, security protocols were activated in all prisons nationwide,” said the note.
Prison security agents were being held on Sunday by criminal groups in other regions of the country, in the Cotopaxi, Azuay, Cañar and El Oro prisons. “The retained servers are in good condition,” the report reported.
For their part, the injured people were evacuated to hospitals and are out of danger, he added.
Source: Ambito
