[1/2]Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio speaks during a campaign rally in Quito, Ecuador, August 9, 2023. Portal/Karen Toro/File Photo ACKNOWLEDGE RIGHTS
Oct 6 (Portal) – Six men suspected of involvement in the August assassination of Ecuadorian anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were killed in prison on Friday, prison authorities said, nearly a week ago before a decisive runoff election.
The killings took place in a prison in Guayaquil, the South American country’s largest city, the attorney general’s office announced earlier Friday.
Ecuador’s government immediately condemned the killings.
Outgoing President Guillermo Lasso vowed “neither complicity nor cover-up” to get to the bottom of the killings in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
“This is where the truth will come out,” he said.
Prison authority SNAI said in a statement that the six men were all Colombian nationals. No further details about the murders were released.
The government said authorities were committed to identifying those behind Villavicencio’s murder.
Villavicencio, a well-known journalist, was shot dead as he left a campaign rally in the capital, Quito, less than two weeks before the first round of parliamentary elections.
Police arrested the six Colombians on the day of Villavicencio’s murder. A seventh suspect, also Colombian, was shot dead by police, while other suspects were later arrested.
The second-round runoff is scheduled for October 15, the culmination of an election cycle marked by numerous incidents of violence.
Business heir Daniel Noboa, who is narrowly leading in some polls ahead of the runoff, said in a social media post that the government must reveal details of what happened in the prison and that peace must be restored to the country.
His main rival for the presidency is Luisa Gonzalez, a protégé of leftist former President Rafael Correa. She said rising crime was unprecedented and voters should not let “terror” stop them from voting for change.
Reporting by Julia Symms Cobb; Edited by David Alire Garcia and Robert Birsel
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