He Movement Build 25, to which he belonged Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, assassinated this Wednesday after leaving a rally in Quitospoke after the death of the also journalist and asked the State for answers, while demanding that the death of Villavicencio not go unpunished.
Villavicencio, 59, a journalist and former assemblyman who with his investigations into corruption had become one of the staunchest enemies of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), received a burst of shots at the end of a rally for his electoral campaign that he was holding at a school in the capital of Ecuador.
The candidate was taken to a nearby medical center where his death was certified, later publicly confirmed by his relatives and by people close to his candidacy.
After the murder, messages of support from supporters and opponents of Villavicencio have rained down. One of them is that of the journalist’s party, which reacted on social networks.
(Also read: Ecuador: why is the murder of Fernando Villavicencio an unprecedented point?)
“We have not yet found a way to react to the horror and pain caused by the assassination of our presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” the note read.
The party claimed that Villavicencio was a tireless fighter who courageously confronted the mafias and whose voice “did not tremble” to denounce the relationship between drug trafficking and politics.
The Movement also recalled that after the assassination last July of the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, and in the midst of the harsh security situation in the country, the campaign reconsidered suspending public events or redoubling security. But Villavicencio’s response was radical, as he asked to continue defending the voice of Ecuadorians.
“Keeping silent and hiding at a time when criminals murder citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice and complicity (…) I ratify my decision to continue the daily fight until the mafias are defeated,” Villavicencio said at the time.
The party assured that they will follow the example of Villavicencio: “neither keep silent, nor be an accomplice, nor surrender”, and they asked the Ecuadorian citizens to continue believing and to continue fighting for a better country.
(You may be interested in: The harsh message from Fernando Villavicencio’s wife: “This should not go unpunished”)
Keeping silent and hiding at a time when criminals murder citizens and authorities is an act of cowardice
In another statement issued in the early hours of this Thursday, Construye 25 rejected the political use and manipulation of the murder of Villavicencio, which it described as “a martyr in the fight against mafias and narcopolitics.”
In the text, published on the social network X (formerly Twitter), the party demanded respect for the Citizen Revolution Movement, former president Rafael Correa, as well as some media outlets and affirmed that they will not allow the memory of the assassinated journalist and politician to be dirty.
“We urge the justice authorities to carry out investigations as quickly as possible to find those responsible for the material and masterminds behind the murder of Villavicencio,” the movement called for.
(Also: Who was Fernando Villavicencio, the presidential candidate assassinated in Ecuador?)
We reject the political use and manipulation of the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio.
We will not allow your memory to be sullied. pic.twitter.com/ldj9VbtxXr
– Construye_Ecu (@Construye_Ecu) August 10, 2023
Vice-presidential candidate also speaks
In the last hours he also pronounced Andrea González, who was the running mate of Fernando Villavicencio and aspired to serve as vice president in case of triumphing in the elections on August 20.
According to the Ecuadorian outlet El Universo, González was not with Villavicencio at the rally where he was assassinated in Quito.
On their social networks, the vice-presidential candidate affirmed that Ecuador did not deserve to lose the candidate in this way and assured that the country lost a brave president.
“My brave Fer, I have no words. You will have your street with your name in Alausí, that and much more. They took our brave president from us. I am devastated. Ecuador does not deserve to lose you like this,” wrote Villavicencio’s running mate.
(You can read: ‘Ecuador has become a failed state’: Correa after the assassination of Villavicencio)
My brave Fer, I have no words. You will have your street with your name in Alausí, that and much more. They took away our brave president. I’m broken. Ecuador does not deserve to lose you like this.
— AndreaGonzalezNader (@AtomikHeartMom) August 10, 2023
According to El Universo, González had already shared with Villavicencio in the 2021 elections in the campaign for the National Assembly.
On Twitter, some users claimed that she must assume Villavicencio’s candidacy and contest the elections that will take place in 10 days.
(Keep reading: The video of when Fernando Villavicencio warned on television that they were going to kill him)
By law, according to El Universo, a party can replace its candidate when he dies or if he is physically disabled. For now, the movement to which the assassinated candidate belonged has not referred to the steps to follow after the death of Villavicencio.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
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