Presidential candidate in Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio, was shot three times on Wednesday while getting into a car from a campaign rally. He was attending a campaign rally in northern Quito when the attack on him happened.
According to the witnesses of the attack, the man stepped forward just as Mr. Villavicencio was leaving the event. The man shot the presidential candidate in the head! Leading to this attack, the security at the venue started firing at him, and he hit some rounds too.
According to the reports by the country’s attorney general, the attacker died from his injuries later. With this shootout, almost 9 people were injured, along with two police officials and one party candidate.
To this incident, the present president of Ecuador stated that “crime will not go unpunished.” He said that he was shocked and outraged by the incident and wants to work towards organized crime which has come a long way.
He held authorities and the law responsible for tracking organized crime and taking steps toward tackling corruption in the country. Ecuador has recently seen a rise in the crime scene courtesy of the proliferation of drug cartels.
The presidential candidate Villavicencio was not a frontrunner for the position in this election as he was one of the 8 who were competing. Yet, he was working towards tackling violence and corruption by investigating it.
He was a journalist for some time and worked on corruption and working towards reducing environmental destruction. His previous works helped his campaigns as he tried to establish more control over the violence in the nation.
He and his team had also been threatened by a leader of a drug trafficking gang in the previous week before the killing! It is quite ominous and does mark a rise in the violence against authorities and government.
Due to increasing violence, President Lasso announced a state of emergency in July. In 3 provinces, he had to implement night curfews after several killings. Violence concerning crime and weapons is constantly on the rise.
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