FBI TO ASSIST ECUADOR IN INVESTIGATING VILLAVICENCIO’S ASSASSINATION

Fri 11 August 2023:

Guillermo Lasso, the president of Ecuador, announced on Thursday that he has asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help with the investigation into the assassination of a presidential contender.

“I have asked the FBI for assistance in the investigation into the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio Valencia,” Lasso said on social media. “The FBI has granted our request and a delegation will arrive in the country in the next few hours.

The opposition candidate Villavicencio was shot dead after an election rally in the capital Quito on Wednesday. At least nine other people were injured. One of the suspected attackers was wounded in a shoot-out with police and later died on the way to the hospital.

Lasso, who is not running for president himself, declared a 60-day state of emergency, a three-day nationwide state of mourning and mobilized troops in response to the mafia-style killing.

ANTI-CORRUPTION ECUADORIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE VILLAVICENCIO ASSASSINATED

Early presidential and parliamentary elections will be held in Ecuador on 20 August. These had become necessary after Lasso dissolved the National Assembly amid impeachment proceedings for alleged embezzlement.

The once peaceful country is suffering from an unprecedented wave of violence. The murder rate of 25 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants last year was the highest in the country’s history. The government holds drug traffickers primarily responsible.

Villavicencio, from the Andean province of Chimborazo, was a former lawmaker, union member at state oil company Petroecuador, and later a journalist who denounced alleged losses in oil contracts.

He was one of the eight presidential candidates registered to stand in the elections scheduled for August 20.