The Ecuadorian former legislator Roberto Leather called this Tuesday “irresponsible” and did not rule out a criminal action against Christian Zuritaappointed substitute for the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencioshot dead on August 9 in Quito.
Cuero, in a press conference, rejected Zurita’s insinuation to link him, along with other former assembly members, in the case of the murder of Villavicencio, who on April 13 filed a lawsuit against them for allegedly planning an attack on his life with hitmen.
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Zurita assured that five former assembly members, including Cuero, had been named by Villavicencio in his complaint, for which he asked them to respond to that accusation.
Cuero demanded that Zurita “not be irresponsible” and that “if he wants political notoriety” he should “work, earning the empathy of Ecuadorians.”
“We reserve the right to take the pertinent legal actions at the pertinent moment” against Zurita’s “reckless” accusation, Cuero added.
“It is totally irresponsible to say what this Mr. Zurita has said, because he has endangered our lives” and the families of the former legislators, Cuero remarked.
Zurita referred to former assemblymen Pablo Muentes, from the conservative Social Christian Party (PSC), and Ronny Aleaga, Roberto Cuero, Ronald González and Walter Gómez, from the Citizen Revolution, the political movement led by former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017). .
Complaint based on anonymous testimonials
According to Zurita, Villavicencio, when he presided over the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly (Parliament), had filed this complaint based on the anonymous testimony of other parliamentarianswho had told him that Cuero and the others were supposedly planning the attack.
Cuero, who rejected the version, noted that the narration had emerged last April, weeks before the country’s president, the conservative Guillermo Lasso, declared the “cross death”, with which he dissolved Parliament and forced the convocation of extraordinary elections, to which Villavicencio stood.
In addition, Cuero affirmed that Villavicencio had made the accusation before the Prosecutor’s Officebut that he had not endorsed it with the legal procedures provided, for which reason the Public Ministry did not give way to the investigation.
He also recalled that, already in the electoral campaign, Villavicencio had accused a leader of the criminal gang Los Choneros, Adolfo Macías, known by the alias “Fito”, of planning a possible attack for his fight against drug trafficking mafias.
For this reason, Cuero again described Zurita as “irresponsible”, whom he accused of acting “clumsily” and putting ex-legislators and their families at risk.
He invited the authorities to launch investigations into the series of alleged failures regarding the security that the Police provided to Villavicencio and the doubts that have been sown around that murder.
The strong discrepancies between Cuero and Villavicencio
Cuero acknowledged that he had strong differences with Villavicencio when both were part of the Oversight Commission of the National Assembly, especially around the political trial of censorship that was being processed in the Chamber against President Lasso.
According to Cuero, Villavicencio, one of the biggest critics of Correísmo, defended Lasso in that process that was cut short after the president called for “cross death”, just when the opposition majority was getting ready to vote for his dismissal.
The former assemblyman regretted the murder of Villavicencio and, despite acknowledging the political rivalry with him, he assured that “he was never a personal enemy.”
Former RC5 assembly members Roberto Cuero, Ronny Aleaga, Walter Gómez and Ronald González responded at a press conference to a video by Cristian Zurita in which he recalls a complaint made by Fernando Villavicencio where he accused them together with a former PSC legislator of wanting to attack him. pic.twitter.com/IWN37Nuhmv
– Radio Morena 640AM (@RadioMorena640) August 16, 2023
For his part, Paul Muentes He pointed out in a statement that “Zurita’s statements are, politically, a desperate dirty campaign, and legally, a vulgar and perverse slander.”
“As soon as the first electoral round ends, I will start against him, and against those who want to sully my name, the pertinent legal actions, including criminal ones,” said Muentes.
Likewise, the Prosecutor’s Office indicated in a statement that both the complaints presented by Villavicencio in the framework of the impeachment trial and those that were presented against him are under investigation, and assured that they comply with due process, for which reason he called for respect the work of the Public Ministry.
EFE
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