Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shot dead in Ecuador

The candidate for the presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death this Wednesday afternoon after participating in a campaign event in Quito. The attack occurred in a school in the capital from which the applicant came. Villavicencio, whom most polls placed in fourth or fifth position among the opponents who will dispute the succession of Guillermo Lasso on August 20, presented himself as a battering ram against corruption under the slogan It’s time for the brave.

The 59-year-old politician and journalist by profession, was a member of the Assembly until its dissolution and chaired the Oversight Commission. During the impeachment trial against Lasso, he was criticized because that commission issued a report favorable to the president that did not have the support of other legislators. The attack occurs when there are 11 days to go before the elections in a country asphyxiated by an unprecedented crisis. During the campaign, the mayor of Manta, a key port for drug trafficking, and a candidate for the Assembly have been assassinated.

Carlos Figueroa, a personal friend of Villavicencio, assured in a video spread on social media that the candidate died after being shot, despite the fact that he had been transferred to the Women’s Clinic, a medical center near the site of the shooting, reports Efe. The Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, confirmed shortly after the death of the candidate,

News in development.

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