Some of the rivals that the candidate Fernando Villavicencio had for the Presidency of Ecuador, assassinated this Wednesday in Quito, announced the suspension of their respective campaigns and called for a pact and unity in the face of the crisis of insecurity and violence that the country is going through .
Shortly after the murder was confirmed, the candidates Yaku Pérez and Jan Topic publicly announced the temporary suspension of their campaigns in solidarity with the relatives and supporters of the candidate.
“Outraged by this cowardly murder of Fernando Villavicencio. The least I can do is express my solidarity with his family and militant sympathizers. And that is why I have decided to suspend the electoral campaign,” said Pérez, who came third in the 2021 elections, in which Guillermo Lasso won the Presidency.
Pérez invited his rivals “to drop all political flags and make a social pact for security.” “Tomorrow in Quito I invite you to take concrete measures. can't continue this. We have to stop the violence,” he said.
“We are drowning in a sea of blood”
In a statement to the press, fellow candidate Otto Sonnenholzner referred to the thousands of murders that have occurred in the country in recent months and called for action from the government of the conservative Guillermo Lasso, who last May dissolved the National Assembly (Parliament) by applying the so-called “cross death”, for which he forced this extraordinary call for general elections.
“We do not want more meetings, we do not want more statements, we demand actions. He still lacks three months of Government. Take action, we are dying, we are drowning in a sea of blood and tears, and we do not deserve to live like this,” he said in a public claim to the Government, which will end this year and not on May 24, 2025, as was provided.
Sonnenholzner assured that Ecuadorians have the right to demand “that they do something. The country has gotten out of hand, and we are already in an unbearable situation, as citizens.”
urgent call
Like Pérez, Sonnenholzer asked his six rivals for unity. “I applaud the courage that all of you had to take a step forward in such difficult moments to want to help change the destiny of Ecuador.. At this moment our fight is not for a few votes, the fight of all of us is against crime, against a few thousand miserable people who have us Ecuadorians on our knees,” he said. Sonnenholzner maintained that “you cannot live like this.”
“Our fight is to defeat them (criminals). I urgently summon them, and I will call them one by one so that we put down proselytizing attitudes at this moment, so that we put this campaign aside for a while and sit down together, together, to discuss what the future of our country is,” he announced.
He invited them to make decisions together that all the applicants later commit to supporting, “because alone, none of us will be able to. If we don't unite now, we will sink,” he warned.
“Here you have my commitment to support. Not lukewarm cloths, because this is not cured with lukewarm cloths, but firm and hard decisions that put a definitive end to this situation,” he added, noting that it is the responsibility of the candidates “to set an example of unit”.
In his social networks, Pérez assured that he has already spoken “with all the candidates, inviting them to leave the political flag and make a social security pact”, because “the country is dismayed by so much violence”, which “must be stopped and act with unity.”