In his last hours of life, presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was surrounded by thousands of supporters who chanted his name after his speech.
Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, getting into the truck that was transporting him to the campaign, on August 8, 2023.
Ecuador has been shaken by a new political crime: the death of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, minutes after leaving a rally in Quito, on the afternoon of August 9.
Villavicencio Valencia, 59, a journalist who with his investigations into corruption had become one of the staunchest enemies of former President Rafael Correa, was fired upon after finishing a rally for his electoral campaign.
The last image of the candidate from the Construye movement was seeing him enter the truck in the middle of a police guard, since he had denounced threats from armed groups against him.
Despite the police presence, Villavicencio fell victim to the bullets of a hitman, amid the confusion and shouts of the people who crowded to see him off.
Minutes before he had been applauded by thousands of supporters at the Anderson College in the capital. People chanted his name and that of the candidates for assembly for the Build movement.
“No assembly member of the good people breaks (…) if they don’t behave well, they go home”, said Villavicencio, who before running for the Presidency, was an assembly member.
And he continued haranguing the crowd saying:
In his final speech, Villavicencio promised to defend his political project and freedoms “in favor of the poorest and most disadvantaged.”
“This country does not tolerate State contractors dealing with criminals,” added the presidential candidate, who in recent days had filed his last complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office.
He also referred to his opponents for the Presidency, whom he said have a “straw tail”, for having signed contracts with the questioned construction company Odebrecht or for having glosses and criminal actions for embezzlement.
After his last words, everything was shocked: Villavicencio’s body was taken to a clinic in Quito in an attempt to save his life.
But, hours later, family and close friends confirmed his death.
Villavicencio proposed a frontal fight against organized crime mafias, in the midst of an electoral campaign marked by the worst security crisis in Ecuador’s history.
