Police Arrest 6 Colombian Men in Assassination of Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate

Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead by a gunman in Quito after leaving a campaign event. He had been running for the presidency in Ecuador’s upcoming election. My colleague wrote:

Fernando Villavicencio was running as a candidate for the presidency in the elections that were supposed to be held on the 20th of August. He was trying to enter his car after leaving a Quito campaign event when shots suddenly rang out.

I don’t know how or where the guy was. The security walked him up to the car and then he got in it. There were security guards in what appeared to be bulletproof vests standing at the door. It didn’t sound right.

His campaign claimed to the local media that the man shot him in the face as he “was about to get into the vehicle”.

Villavicencio was a journalist who had been calling out corruption for years.

The authorities continue to investigate Villavicencio’s assassination. However, it appears that there was a conspiracy. In a report published on Thursday, police revealed the arrest of six Columbian suspects.

QUITO (AP) – The six men who were arrested in connection with the assassination attempt on an anti-corruption presidential candidate in Ecuador are Colombians, according to a police report released Thursday. Authorities investigated the motive of the crime, which shocked a country already reeling under a wave of drug-related violence.

The Associated Press reviewed the report which stated that six men had been captured in a house located in Quito, Ecuador. The report said that officers also seized a vehicle, a motorcycle, and a motorcycle along with four shotguns, and a 5.56 mm rifle.

In an update to the original story, we reported that one of the alleged shooters, who was thought to be the suspect, was severely injured in a shootout after the murder. He died Wednesday from his injuries while in police custody.

The AP reports that Villavicencio was not a frontrunner but that his death “deepened the crisis surrounding organized crime, which has already claimed thousands of lives, and highlighted the challenge that Ecuador’s next leader will have to face.”

Villavicencio claimed that he had been threatened by members of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, which is one of many international organized crime organizations operating now in Ecuador. He claimed that his campaign was a threat to these groups. […]

Villavicencio, Villavicencio’s campaign advisor, said that the candidate received at least three threats of death before the shooting. He reported these to authorities and one arrest was made.

Guillermo Lasso, Ecuador’s current president, described how the men who were involved in Villavicencio’s murder tried to flee the scene by throwing a grenade on the street. It failed to ignite. AP reports “Police destroyed the grenade later with a controlled explosive.”

At a press conference held in response to Villavicencio’s murder, another presidential candidate, former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner addressed the violence that has swept through Ecuador.

We are drowning, in a sea full of tears. This is not how we should live.

Pres. Lasso declared three days of mourning and activated the state of emergency. He confirmed that the elections will take place on the 20th of August as scheduled, despite the assassination.

As new information becomes available, we will provide updates.