The Gaspar de Villarroel de Quito sector, in the financial center of the Ecuadorian capital, woke up paralyzed with fear this Thursday. Several vendors chose not to open, while others tried to continue with their routine after authorities removed the yellow cordon tape and the police investigative division collected the 64 shell casings found outside the gates of Anderson Street on the afternoon of August 9. school had been fired. That’s where candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated on Wednesday afternoon in an attack that turned the neighborhood into a war zone for minutes, sending the country into dismay less than ten days before the August 20 elections. The attack is a testament to the wave of terror afflicting Ecuadorians, a brutal organized crime attack that President Guillermo Lasso said represents a challenge to the rule of law and “an attempt to sabotage the electoral process.” The election campaign has stalled, but it will go on, even amid the President-declared state of emergency. Meanwhile, the country tries to recover from a tragic afternoon.
“I woke up in shock and very sad,” says Passy Cevallos, trying to hold back tears, who had been waiting outside the morgue north of Quito with another group of citizens demanding justice. “You killed our president!” shouted a group of Villavicencio supporters who accompanied the candidate on his tours. The attack came just days after another against the mayor of the coastal city of Manta, Agustín Intriago. “We can’t talk about security. We are helpless without being able to do anything,” they continued.
In the capital, which is not swamped by the usual traffic, there is silence and outrage, as expressed by Luis Fernández, Villavicencio’s lawyer. “This is a state crime,” he affirms, explaining that “he was not afforded adequate protection when the same police certified that he was at high risk of 97% for an attempt on his life.” The attorney points out, that the threats started from the moment he announced his candidacy. “Wherever I went, there were always bomb threats. They had to be removed from the locations immediately,” adds Fernández, who admits they didn’t make them public so as not to hinder the campaign. In any case, he insists, “they were real and the state officials knew about each one.” Hours before his murder, Villavicencio himself publicly denounced the intimidation attempts, which he attributed to a group linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
The 59-year-old politician and journalist was murdered in the vehicle provided by the state for his transfer, a white, crew-cab, unarmoured van. Police Commander Fausto Salinas explained that the applicant did in fact have his own armored vehicle. On Wednesday morning, he traveled in this car to a political meeting in Guayaquil, but later boarded a plane to Quito, using transportation provided by the authorities.
Experts are working on the spot where Fernando Villavicencio was murdered. KAREN TORO (Portal)
In this truck, which did not have the security measures to withstand an attack, he undertook the planned tours of Quito with a police escort. He had no tactical protection, but the police command assured in a press conference that the candidate had a triple security ring. During the appearance, chaired by Interior Minister Juan Zapata, it was not clarified what had gone wrong with the security measures and what motive was responsible for the crime. The officials left no questions and devoted the eight-minute intervention to the six arrested people with Colombian nationality and criminal record. The suspects had been arrested a month ago, but the judge did not order preventive detention but gave them the opportunity to appear regularly in court. They never did.
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The Villavicencio killer, who died in a confrontation with security forces shortly after the attack, was also arrested in June for illegally carrying a weapon but was released. According to Salinas, they belonged to all organized criminal groups operating in the country, without elaborating.
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Villavicencio had been referencing a group called Los Choneros in recent days. And in one of his most recent interviews, he accused the authorities of not doing enough to stem the worst wave of violence Ecuador has suffered in recent history. In particular, he spoke of threats from a criminal, nicknamed Fito, who had sent him intimidating messages. “If I keep mentioning the name Fito and the Choneros, they’re going to break me,” he warned. However, he did not back down: “Here I show my face, I am not afraid of them.”
Los Choneros is a drug trafficking group whose origins date back to the late 1990s in the coastal town of Manta. After years of growth, it has grown into one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Ecuador and currently works for the powerful Sinaloa (Mexico) cartel in the cocaine trade. Among his opponents are Los Lobos, Tiguerones and Chone Killers, three gangs that carry out logistical operations for the cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, also Mexican, and the best known in the North American country.
Regardless of who is responsible for the attack, the fact is that Ecuador is experiencing an election campaign on high alert. President Lasso described the incident as a “political crime”. After declaring three days of national mourning and a 60-day state of emergency, Lasso was blunt about the need to continue the ongoing electoral process. His argument: suspending the elections would mean giving crime a victory. “We will not hand over power and democratic institutions to organized crime,” he said. Therefore, the candidates are preparing to continue the election campaign and take part in the election on August 20th.
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