The Peruvian Interior Minister, Vicente Romero, assured this Friday that the National Police has reinforced surveillance on the border between Peru and Ecuador, with the aim of preventing a possible escape of the members of the criminal gang to which the murder is attributed. of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

In a statement collected by the Andina state agency, Romero explained that the reinforcement consists of 200 agents of the Peruvian National Police (PNP), in addition to taking “the necessary provisions.”

“There is also work at the intelligence level between the two police forces to facilitate the capture of these criminals,” noted the head of the Interior.

In this sense, he explained that they are “working with the general commander of the National Police after the events, and with the head of the Tumbes police region,” the border region with Ecuador.

He also recalled that last April the Government declared a state of emergency in the border areas of the entire country, which allows the authorities “to act more effectively.”

The Ecuadorian presidential candidate was assassinated on the afternoon of last Wednesday, shot as he left a rally in the compound of a school in the north of Quito, a crime for which there are six detainees – all of them Colombians – but where it is unknown who is behind it of the order to assassinate him.

assassination

A group of hitmen shot Villavicencio, a candidate for the Construye political movement, at point blank range, while one of the suspects in the shooting detained at the site by police officers and other civilians died under unclear circumstances when he was transferred to a judicial unit.

Villavicencio had denounced death threats a few days ago after dedicating his life to denouncing corruption and establishing himself as a staunch enemy of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), based on his journalistic investigations and complaints.

violent escalation

Ecuador is experiencing a spiral of violence that began to spiral at a dizzying pace a couple of years ago, with frequent prison killings between gangs of inmates who, according to the authorities, were fighting for control of the prisons.

This prison violence took to the streets, especially in coastal provinces such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, the former used as a shipping area by drug gangs for the surreptitious shipment of drugs to the largest consumer markets in the United States and Europe. .