The president of Ecuador, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, expressed his dismay on Wednesday over the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and promised that the crime will not go unpunished.
“Outraged and shocked by the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. My solidarity and condolences to his wife and daughters. For his memory and for his fight, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished, ”Lasso wrote on social networks.
The President also announced that he called a meeting of the Security Cabinet: “I asked the president of the CNE [Conselho Nacional Eleitoral], Diana Atamaint; the State Attorney General, Diana Salazar; the President of the National Court of Justice, Iván Saquicela; and to the other State authorities who urgently participate in this meeting to face this fact that has dismayed the country,” she added.
“Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on it,” declared the head of state, during whose term the biggest insecurity crisis the country has experienced broke out, due to the proliferation and violence associated with actions to international drug trafficking mafias, according to authorities.
The candidate for president of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated this Wednesday, shot by unknown persons, when he was leaving a rally, in a campaign event in the capital, Quito.
Interior Minister Juan Zapata said the attack was carried out by hitmen who also injured other people.
Villavicencio, identified as a critic of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), was traveling with police protection due to the threats he had received weeks before.
The fight against crime is one of the main promises of the candidates who aspire to succeed the conservative Guillermo Lasso as president in the extraordinary general elections scheduled for Sunday.
In addition to Villavicencio, the candidates for the presidential elections are the environmentalist Yaku Pérez, the former congresswoman Luisa González, the security expert Jan Topic, the former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, the politician Daniel Hervas, the businessman Daniel Noboa and the independent Bolívar Armijos.
Source: TSF
