August 6th, Exactly one week ago, the Ecuadorian journalist Carlos Vera asked Fernando Villavicencio if he was afraid that the same thing would happen to Luis Carlos Galánthe Colombian presidential candidate shot by the mafia on August 18, 1989 during a campaign rally in a public square in Soacha.
(Also: Fernando Villavicencio Case: new clues to clarify the crime in Ecuador)
“Do you know what is most important for you to fulfill your plan? That he is alive (…). Did you see how Luis Carlos Galán ended up in Colombia? ”, Vera asked him when reminding the candidate for the presidency of Ecuador that his investigations and statements against corruption and the mafias were adding enemies to him.
Villavicencio was blunt: “The only thing the people of this country need is courageous leadership (…). You only survive when you lose your fear, ”he replied. But, as if the question were some ominous omen, just three days later Villavicencio was gunned down as he was leaving a political rally in Quito, just as Galán was shot 34 years ago.
(Keep reading: Assassinations in Ecuador and Haiti: the tentacles of Colombian gunmen)
Keeping the historical proportions, both cases have their similarities: two candidates who campaigned at a time when the mafia spread terror and a speech of zero tolerance against criminals. However, There are also differences: Galán was a favorite in the polls and Villavicencio the polls put him in a technical tie for second place. Beyond the coincidences, Villavicencio was also a harsh critic of corruption in his country.
(Also read: Fernando Villavicencio: what is known about the funeral of the murdered Ecuadorian candidate)
A journalist by profession, he built his career uncovering corruption scandals, even filing complaints of irregularities in state contracts until days before he was shot.
Originally from the Andean municipality of Alusí, in the province of Chimborazo, in the very heart of Ecuador, Villavicencio also worked in information media such as the old Vanguardia magazine.
(Also read: The prison benefits he received in Colombia captured for assassination in Ecuador)
In fact, one of his journalistic investigations brought former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) to the bench. The investigation carried out together with his colleague and friend Christian Zurita uncovered a bribery scheme that put the former president and his government officials on the ropes for having received bribes from businessmen.
For this case, Correa, who is a refugee in Belgium, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison. The former president has always said that it is a political persecution against him. But, in the case of Villavicencio, his investigations earned him two prison orders.
(You can read: Ecuador: the car in which the candidate for the Assembly was mobilized was shot at)
In 2014, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted him precautionary measures after being sentenced to 18 months in prison for insulting Correa.
On that occasion, he hid in the Amazon jungle to avoid serving his sentence. Two years later, a judge ordered his jailing for allegedly revealing classified information with hacked emails to the Correa administration to support investigations into corruption in oil deals.
(Also: Gustavo Bolívar’s hypothesis about the murder of Fernando Villavicencio)
So, he took refuge in Lima until 2017, when he returned to the country under the government of Lenín Moreno (2017-2021), who distanced himself from Correa. Villavicencio then returned when he obtained the statute of limitations on his case.
Back in Ecuador, he reached Parliament and headed the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament). Then, he presented his presidential candidacy.
The candidate focused on the fight against corruption, dismantling the mafias, the same ones that ended up taking his life.
(Keep reading: “It is something similar to what happened with Luis Carlos Galán”, widow of Fernando Villavicencio)
His assassination leaves an electoral campaign that gravitates around the security crisis that Ecuador is going through, with the highest rates of violent deaths in its entire history, including other politicians and candidates, more blood stained.
CARLOS JOSE REYES GARCIA
International Deputy Editor
TIME
#legacy #Fernando #Villavicencio #standard #bearer #corruption #Ecuador