Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had spoken up against organized crime and corruption in the country, was assassinated at a campaign rally in Quito on Wednesday, highlighting a surge in gang violence in the country which has left dozens dead in recent months.
Former Assembly member and now presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, gestures outside the ... [+]
Villavicencio, a former journalist who had said that Ecuador was turning into a “narco-state”, was gunned down after addressing his supporters at a campaign event in the national capital, local media outlets reported.
Multiple gunshots can be heard in a video of the incident after Villavicencio is seen entering a car after exiting the event venue.
One suspect was killed in a shoot-out with police, while six others have been taken into custody, the attorney general's office said.
The incident has drawn immediate condemnation from other presidential candidates, with some of them calling for severe punishment against the perpetrators while warning that violence in the country has gotten out of hand.
The country’s President Guillermo Lasso—who is not running for reelection—said he was “outraged and shocked” by the incident and vowed that organized crime in the country will now face the “full weight of the law.”
Lasso has ordered a state of emergency for the next 60 days, allowing him to mobilize the national military across the country—the presidential elections though will proceed as scheduled.
This is a developing story.