After Killing of Ecuador Candidate Villavicencio, Speculation and Recrimination

QUITO (Reuters) – The homicide of Ecuadorean presidential hopeful Fernando Villavicencio has led to a frenzy of hypothesis from politicians throughout the spectrum, together with from allies who have been with him within the moments earlier than he died, about why he was killed and why he was not higher protected.

Villavicencio, who was gunned down in Quito final week, constructed a reputation for himself as an investigative journalist rooting out graft earlier than he grew to become a lawmaker. He was no stranger to threats.

Police have arrested six suspects who they are saying are all Colombians belonging to prison teams; one other was killed within the shoot-out.

However there are nonetheless no clear solutions as to the motive for his homicide, who was actually behind it, or why his safety failed. In that vacuum, hypothesis is rife.

Police mentioned final week their investigation consists of questions on why an armored car usually utilized by the candidate was in Guayaquil and never with Villavicencio on the day of the homicide.

Police have mentioned that Villavicencio, who was shot within the head as he entered the backseat of a automotive following a marketing campaign occasion at a sports activities heart, had three rings of safety.

Three cops have been among the many 9 folks injured within the capturing. Police additionally safely detonated an explosive on the web site.

“He ought to have had a a lot stronger (safety) construction,” Patricio Carrillo, a former inside minister and legislative candidate who was with Villavicencio on the occasion the place he was murdered, advised Reuters.

“Folks liked him and each time there was extra emotion and no approach to keep away from folks hugging him,” mentioned Carrillo. “That day lots of people have been round his rapid safety and wished to get images, to be subsequent to him.”

After the occasion, Villavicencio exited out the entrance of the sports activities heart, the place many individuals had gathered, Carrillo mentioned, including that he himself had stayed inside chatting to some buddies. Carrillo and his buddies have been evacuated by two safety workers out the again door once they heard the capturing.

“We thought we have been lined, however that protection wasn’t sufficient,” Carrillo mentioned. “For that the police should reply… They discuss concerning the three rings of safety however they are not speaking concerning the negligence.”

In response to a request from Reuters, the police despatched a press release posted on-line which says that they’re conducting an inner investigation and dealing with the lawyer normal’s workplace to seek out these accountable for the killing.

“The essential factor is to seek out the one that financed this killing, the mental creator, the psychopath who does not need Ecuador to unravel its corruption and impunity issues,” Carrillo mentioned, echoing calls by Villavicencio’s widow final week.

Christian Zurita, Villavicencio’s alternative candidate for the Construye celebration, was additionally on the sports activities heart on the day of the homicide. He advised journalists on Thursday he believed, with out producing proof, that Villavicencio had been killed as a result of he wished to militarize the nation’s ports, key exit factors for medicine being smuggled overseas.

The homicide has forged a shadow over Sunday’s election to decide on a alternative for conservative President Guillermo Lasso. The front-runner is Luisa Gonzalez, a protege of former President Rafael Correa.

Correa, who in workplace commonly clashed with Villavicencio, has referred to as the killing a false flag operation to harm his Citizen’s Revolution celebration.

“I’ve little doubt that it is a plot, a conspiracy to prejudice the Citizen’s Revolution,” mentioned Correa, showing nearly at a marketing campaign rally for Gonzalez on Wednesday.

With out offering any proof, he has accused the police of being complicit, mentioned Villavicencio’s armored automotive was parked on the again entrance of the sports activities heart and that the automotive which Villavicencio was getting into had no driver, and mentioned Villavicencio’s cellphone had gone lacking.

“It is clear this advantages the fascist proper, those that need the present scenario to proceed, those that don’t need the Citizen’s Revolution to return,” he mentioned.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Modifying by Rosalba O’Brien)

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