QUITO, Ecuador – Supporters of assassinated Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio gathered at a public memorial occasion in Quito on Friday, whereas his household held a mass on the cemetery the place he might be buried.
Villavicencio, a former lawmaker and crusading anti-corruption journalist, was gunned down as he left a marketing campaign occasion on Wednesday night, lower than two weeks earlier than the election.
Amid a tide of rising violence and crime within the South American nation, the homicide has led some Ecuadoreans to weigh whether or not they’ll vote on Aug. 20 and has made an unsettled election even tougher to forecast.
Villavicencio’s get together Construye held a big occasion at Quito’s conference middle, the place his vice-presidential candidate Andrea Gonzalez spoke whereas sporting a bullet-proof vest.
Meanwhile, Villavicencio’s household held a 100-person mass at a chapel on the Monte Olivo cemetery within the north of metropolis, accompanied by heavily-armed police.
“My son left a legacy of struggle, of transparency, of sacrifice,” Villavicencio’s mom, Gloria Valencia, instructed attendees. “All this struggle and all that he did – I hope it will not be merchandise used by others.”
The coffin was loaded right into a hearse to chants of “Fernando lives forever!”
Six suspects – all Colombians who police have stated belong to prison teams – had been charged with homicide and had been remanded in custody for 30 days by a decide late on Thursday, the legal professional normal’s workplace stated on X, the platform beforehand referred to as Twitter.
According to charging paperwork uploaded to the justice system’s web site, all six had been additionally charged with illicit trafficking of drugs.
Two of the lads had been beforehand charged, on July 5, with reception of stolen items, based on paperwork on the web site.
All the lads had earlier prison data in Ecuador and Colombia, an Ecuadorean police spokesperson stated.
A search of the general public data database run by the Colombian police listed three of the lads as having no prison document, whereas the remaining three had been listed as “currently not required by any judicial authority.”
One different suspect within the crime died from wounds sustained in a shootout with authorities on Wednesday.
‘Who employed them?’
As a labor organizer after which a journalist, Villavicencio had lengthy been uncovered to threats because of his scathing and meticulously documented corruption accusations concentrating on a few of the largest names in Ecuador’s political and monetary institution.
Villavicencio’s spouse Veronica Sarauz stated she had not but met with authorities to debate why his safety safety failed.
“He was aware that the threats against him were real,” Sarauz instructed Colombia’s Caracol Radio.
“We know they are the material authors,” she stated of the six charged males. “But we need to know who the intellectual authors are. Who hired them?”
The authorities has stated it’s investigating who’s behind the homicide and has promised heightened safety nationwide to make sure peaceable elections.
Villavicencio died from cranial trauma, hemorrhage and cerebral laceration attributable to a bullet, an post-mortem quoted within the charging paperwork stated. He additionally suffered a cranial fracture.
“I’m here to give the final goodbye to our president,” supporter Lola Alvarez instructed Reuters earlier on Friday exterior a personal wake held by Villavicencio’s household.
“Fernando Villavicencio was a leader, who with proof in his hands, denounced all the mafias of Ecuador and that’s the motive for his death,” she stated. “I don’t know what’s happening in my country.”
Villavicencio was not protected against the threats in opposition to him, stated Patricia Aguilera, an meeting candidate for a rural space of Quito.
“They killed him because they feared an honest man assuming power and saying the truth about all the corruption in this country,” she stated. “The state didn’t protect him.”
Presidential candidates universally condemned the homicide, though Villavicencio’s get together has denounced what it calls “political use” of his demise, as accusations had been traded about allegations of ties to prison teams.
Two of Villavicencio’s opponents – Indigenous candidate Yaku Perez and law-and-order candidate Jan Topic – have suspended their campaigns. Luisa Gonzalez, who’s backed by former President Rafael Correa, a long-time bete noire of Villavicencio, and is main the race with just under 30% voter assist, has not. Neither has Otto Sonnenholzner, although neither he nor Gonzalez had public occasions scheduled for Friday.
Villavicencio, a 59-year-old father, had 7.5% assist in polls, inserting him fifth out of eight candidates.
Violence in Ecuador has surged lately, particularly in cities alongside drug-trafficking routes like Guayaquil and Esmeraldas the place residents say they stay in concern.
President Guillermo Lasso, who referred to as early elections to keep away from an impeachment vote, has been criticized for failing to tamp down the violence.
His authorities blames bloodshed on the streets and in prisons on prison infighting to manage the drug trafficking routes utilized by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others.
Beyond safety, employment and migration are main points for voters.
Candidates will take part in a compulsory televised debate on Sunday. Villavicencio’s get together had requested for the controversy to be postponed, however the electoral authority declined. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
