Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot and killed last night in Quito during a campaign rally. He was assassinated just days before the presidential vote on Aug. 20.
Villavicencio, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement and was polling fifth out of eight candidates in an election largely focused on Ecuador’s epidemic of gang violence. He was known for brazenly calling out corruption, organized crime, and drug traffickers. When embattled President Guillermo Lasso – who is not on the ballot – confirmed the assassination, he suggested that organized crime was responsible for the shooting.
Villavicencio’s assassination isn’t an isolated event. Over the past five years, Ecuador has been ravaged by violence associated with drug trafficking. Just a few weeks ago, the mayor of Manta was also assassinated. But Villavicencio’s death marks the first time that a presidential candidate has been killed on the campaign trail, upping the fear and outrage over the country’s growing security crisis.
Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from leaders of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador.
Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.
Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said a suspect in the assassination of Villavicencio died of injuries after being arrested by authorities.
