The escalation of violence that plagues Ecuador seems to find no ceiling. After the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencionow his successor, Christian Zuritaannounced that he will leave the country as a result of the death threats he received.
“I have a security capsule that is very strong and I don’t expect that for my life, I really have to take time for myself,” he told Ecuavisa television.
Zurita, who the previous Sunday went to vote wearing a helmet and surrounded by several police officers, stressed that he does not want to spend his days wearing a bulletproof vest and amid strict security protocols, according to the digital newspaper Primicias.
The former candidate assured that the Police told him that he must permanently wear a bulletproof vest and that when he appears in open places he must wear a helmet.
The crime of Fernando Villavicencio
A personal friend and former journalistic associate of Villavicencio, replaced him as the presidential candidate of the Construye Movement after he was assassinated on the 9th of this month, as he was leaving an event in Quito.
After the elections, in which he was third, Zurita announced that he would not practice journalism again because he had “crossed the line of politics.”
Now he affirmed that he will leave the country in the coming weeks, once he resolves some pending procedures related to the Construye Movement.
“A line must be structured for the elected assembly members (legislators) and I must put the final touches on a book designed by Fernando Villavicencio that I hope will be published no later than September 15,” Zurita explained.
Due to the threats and attacks received, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures and asked the Ecuadorian State to ensure his integrity.
Ballotage and protection of the Army
The next president of Ecuador will be elected in the ballot on October 15. That day, they will face the candidate Luisa Gonzalezof correísmo, and the conservative Daniel Noboa. Behind, in third place, was Zurita.
Faced with the scenario of increasing violence that the country is going through, the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, commissioned the armed forces the protection of presidential candidates that they will dispute a runoff in the next elections before the wave of violence and murder that take place in the country.
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He ecuadorian president He announced it through his official account on Twitter: “I have arranged to the Armed Forces to immediately take charge of the security of the presidential candidates. Our democracy is going to emerge strengthened from this electoral process and for this it is essential that the candidates have sufficient protection.”
“Our democracy is going to emerge strengthened from this electoral process and, for this, it is essential that the candidates have sufficient protection,” he added.
The decision was made after the national elections were held and in the middle of a string of non-stop violence marked by the murder of one of the candidates, Fernando Villavicencio, in a context of growth of organized crime.
Source: Ambito
