During a rally in Quito, Ecuadorthe candidate for president the Build Movement, Fernando Villavicencio, was murdered shot by hitmen. Shock in Ecuadorian politics. A suspect was killed by the Police.
Villavicencio was participating in a meeting in the coliseum of the Anderson College of Quito when a man lunged at him and Shooting on his face. The politician was taken to the La Mujer clinic, where passed away.
Carlos Figueroa, running mate and one of his electoral campaign advisers, confirmed Villavicencio’s death to El Universo.
The attack on the candidate occurred around 6:00 p.m. Besides the death of Villavicencio, the attack left several injured. After the fact, the National Police mounted an operation to locate those responsible.
Who was Fernando Villavicencio?
Villavicencio, 59 years old and whose death was confirmed by local media by the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, friends and relatives of the victim, was one of the eight candidates in the first round of the presidential elections that are held in advance on August 20 in Ecuador, a country suffering an increase in violence linked to drug trafficking.
The journalist and former member of the National Assembly dissolved in May by Lasso appeared second in the intention to vote with 13.2%behind the lawyer Luisa González (26.6%), the only woman in the running and close to the former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), according to the most recent Cedatos survey.
The President of Ecuador, William Lasso, confirmed through the X social media platform that the presidential candidate Villavicencio was assassinated and promised that the crime will not go unpunished.
“Outraged and shocked by the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” Lasso said and expressed his “solidarity and condolences with his wife and daughters.”
In addition, he affirmed that “for his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished” and added that the Security Cabinet will meet “in a few minutes in Carondelet.”
“I have asked the president of the CNE, Diana Atamaint; to the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar; to the President of the National Court of Justice, Ivan Saquicela; and to the other State authorities to attend this meeting urgently to discuss this fact that has dismayed the country. Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law is going to fall on them,” he said.
A suspect was killed in a shooting
“A suspect, who was injured during the exchange of bullets with security personnel, was apprehended and taken badly injured to the Flagrancy Unit in #Quito. An ambulance from the Fire Department confirmed his death”said the prosecution through a post on X.
“@PoliciaEcuador proceeds with the removal of the body,” he added.
The prosecutor’s office also said that so far 9 people injured victims of the attack, including a candidate for assembly and two police officers.
Police and Ecuador’s Interior Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the details of the killing.
Source: Ambito
