Security concerns, along with employment and migration, are major voter concerns in presidential contest. Lasso's government has blamed rising violence on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others to move drugs. The office later said it had arrested six people so far in connection with the crime during raids in Quito. The violence injured nine other people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers. The attorney general's office said one suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out. Voting for a new president will go ahead as planned on Aug. Lasso declared three days of mourning and a national state of emergency, saying the military would mobilize to guarantee security. "This is a political crime, which has the character of terrorism, and we do not doubt that this murder is an attempt to sabotage the electoral process," Lasso said in a video statement past midnight local time, after meeting with security and electoral officials. Video footage posted on social media showed Villavicencio getting into a car after the event, before the sound of apparent gunfire and screaming.Įcuador's police and Interior Ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the details of the killing, but outgoing President Guillermo Lasso confirmed police safely detonated a grenade left behind by the killers. Local media reported some 30 shots had been fired at an event in the north of the capital, Quito. Reuters | Updated: 10-08-2023 11:46 IST | Created: 10-08-2023 11:41 IST Fernando Villavicencio Image Credit: ANIĮcuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed at a campaign event on Wednesday, authorities said, amid an upsurge in violence in the Andean nation blamed on drug traffickers.
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