Anti-corruption Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated at political rally

An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption was shot and killed on Wednesday at a political rally in the capital, amid a startling wave of gang-driven violence in the South American country.
President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organised crime was behind his slaying, less than two weeks before the Aug. 20 presidential election. “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” Lasso said in a statement. “Organised crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law.”
Ecuador’s attorney general’s office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito.
In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the country’s “thieves.”
Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organised crime groups that now operate in Ecuador.
He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups.“Here I am showing my face. I’m not scared of them,” Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss José Adolfo Macías by his alias “Fito.”
Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the front-runner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement. Supporter Ida Paez said that Villavicencio’s campaign had given her hope that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said, “We were happy.
Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family.”
As drug traffickers have begun to use the country’s coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades.
The sounds of gunfire ring in many major cities as rival gangs battle for control, and gangs have recruited children. Just last month, the mayor of the port city of Manta was shot and killed.