Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso during a program on state television on 17 May 2023. BOLIVAR PARRA (AFP)
Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso this Thursday announced the signing of two new decrees as a result of the security cabinet meeting, the same one he described as a state of emergency after the nationwide uproar that led to the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last Wednesday in Quito. The first was to order a three-day national mourning “to honor a patriot’s memory,” the president said; Secondly, a new state of emergency for 60 days for the mobilization of the armed forces throughout Ecuadorian territory.
Lasso classified Villavicencio’s assassination as “a political crime of a terrorist nature” and warned “those who want to intimidate the state that we will not back down”. The speech was broadcast by national radio and television from Carondelet Palace, where he was accompanied by the highest authorities of the Electoral Council, the Attorney General’s Office, the National Court of Justice and the armed forces. “We will not hand over power and democratic institutions to organized crime, even if it masquerades as a political organization,” Lasso continued.
Due to the security meeting he called as an emergency, the President had no doubt that this assassination “is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process” and they were by no means suspended but decided to proceed as planned on the approved calendar, which means , that this is the case The presidential and legislative sessions will take place next Sunday, August 20, the presidential debate will also take place on Sunday 13th and the candidates will be able to continue their election campaigns, despite the temporary suspension of political events have announced.
There are no security guarantees for election day. However, they did agree that “the armed forces and the national police will double security in all constituencies so that the next elections can take place in peace with guarantees,” said Diana Atamaint, President of the National Electoral Council. She also said that the international organizations, who will oversee the trial have confirmed their presence despite the recent violent events which have escalated without being predictable.
Violence changes everyday life for Ecuadorians on a daily basis. On the same Wednesday, August 9, that Villavicencio was assassinated, the country woke up to the news of the kidnapping of the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Guayaquil, one of the largest in the country. Around noon, at an event celebrated by the President, he announced his release to applause. But a day earlier, the country was already shocked by images of a robbery in which criminals shot dead a man walking with his five-year-old daughter, who, seeing her father’s wound on his leg, cried out in desperation: “¡a! You killed my father!”
Crimes number in the thousands, including the assassination of the mayor of the coastal city of Manta, Agustín Intriago, the rural director of the organized-crime beleaguered municipality of Durán, Miguel Santos, and the candidate for deputy Rider Sánchez, the victim of an armed attack in Esmeraldas.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
subscribe to
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.