The assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito has shocked Ecuador and the region. Villavicencio was shot after attending a political rally in the Ecuadorian capital, in the middle of the campaign for the early presidential elections on August 20 in the South American country.
His assassination is the latest demonstration of an endemic evil that runs through all corners of America: political violence.
In fact, his case is reminiscent of the one that occurred in Colombia in 1989 when, in full concentration in a public square in the municipality of Soacha, Luis Carlos Galán, a candidate for the Presidency for the Liberal Party and the top favorite in the polls, was riddled with bullets by drug-trafficking mafias.
Today social networks remember the day an Ecuadorian journalist told Villavicencio that his fight against the mafias and drug trafficking could cost him his life and that he could even end up like Galán, the leader assassinated in Colombia.
(Also read: Who are Los Lobos, the gang that claims the assassination of a candidate in Ecuador?)
The presidential candidate was leaving an electoral rally at a school in Quito.
Twitter @EmergenciasEc
The journalist’s warning to Fernando Villavicencio
The assassinated presidential candidate for the Construye movement conceded a few days ago, specifically on August 6, an interview with the program ‘Vera a su manera’, hosted by the journalist Carlos Vera.
On that occasion, Vera spoke with Villavicencio about his political program and his fight against the mafias in Ecuador.
In the program, The journalist told the candidate that the fight against corruption and white-collar mafias was more of a job for the nation’s attorney general. and that his fight against this issue was arming him with several enemies and a strong opposition resistance that would not let him govern in the year and a half that he would be in power if he were to win the elections on August 20.
(You can read: Ecuador: why is the murder of Fernando Villavicencio an unprecedented point?)
![](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Twitter: @EmergenciasEc / EFE
“Isn’t it better to stabilize the country, right the ship and leave that for the second period?” the journalist asked.
To which Villavicencio replied: “Leaving a ship driven by criminals would be dangerous (…). I will feel proud to have enemies and a whole country of friends with education, health and public works”.
In the interview, Villavicencio stated that he had nothing to lose. AND It was there when the journalist Vera warned him about the possibility that his story would end like that of Luis Carlos Galán, in Colombia.
“Yes, you can lose your life. Do you know what is most important for you to stick to your plan? Let him be alive, let him come to power, ”she warned him.
“Did you see how Luis Carlos Galán ended up in Colombia? Do you remember how he ended up? It’s too early,” said Vera, at the same time that he warned him that in order to fulfill his government plan he had to survive.
(Also: Tension in Ecuador over the murder of Fernando Villavicencio: what is known about the crime)
The candidate Villavicencio affirmed that he perfectly remembered the case of Galán, but warned that Ecuadorians needed courageous leadership and that you only survive when you lose your fear.
In addition, he stated that those who negotiate with the mafias are defeated and have their own funeral home in advance.
The truth is that Villavicencio, one of the eight presidential candidates for the early general elections, had already denounced a series of threats against him and his campaign team, specifically “alias Fito”, who is detained and heads the organization “Los Choneros”.
“They called me from a phone whose code is domiciled in Indonesia and which has the photo of ‘Fito’ on its profile. From that communication, the same threat was received, against me and against my security team and outpost, ”he said in another interview a few days ago.
But the threats did not stop his presidential campaign. “Despite the new threats, we will continue fighting for the brave people of our #Ecuador,” the politician wrote at the time for X.
(Keep reading: “You are my bulletproof vest, I don’t need it”: Fernando Villavicencio for threats)
After the assassination of Villavicencio, Ecuador decreed this Thursday the state of exception. The measure adopted by President Guillermo Lasso, that allows the patrolling of the military in the streets of this country plagued by violence linked to drug trafficking, seeks to guarantee the development of the elections, whose date is maintained.
Authorities from various state bodies held an urgent dialogue at the presidential headquarters after the attack that also left nine injured, including a candidate for assembly and two police officers.
An alleged attacker also died from a crossfire with security personnel and six people are in custody, according to the prosecutor’s office.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
#day #Fernando #Villavicencio #warned #Galán