The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death this Wednesday afternoon, after an attack allegedly perpetrated by hitmen, in an event that has stirred the national conscience amid the insecurity crisis that plagues Ecuador and that increasingly seems getting worse.

A group of hitmen could be behind the attack that took place at the moment in which the candidate Villavicencio entered his vehicle, a gray van, after giving a rally in Quito.

Two security officers escorted the politician to his car. When he sat in the back of the car and the door was closed, from the other window a short man fired several shots at him with a revolver.

The candidate, a controversial anti-correista journalist, was transferred to a medical center after the attack and to a morgue for his autopsy.

The shooting, which occurred at 6:20 p.m. local time, has left at least eight injured among those who had attended the electoral act, seven of whom had to be taken to hospital.

Hours after the attack, and after decreeing a state of emergency for 60 days in Ecuador, its current president, Guillermo Lasso, explained that the attack occurred around 6:15 p.m. local time (23:15 GMT) “and caused the confrontation between the policemen who were guarding Fernando Villavicencio and the murderers”, among whom one died from his wounds, after being captured.

“The assassins, to cover their escape, threw a grenade that did not detonate in the street and was later destroyed through a controlled detonation,” said the head of state.. “The investigations continue and we will apply all the rigor of the law so that those responsible for materials and intellectuals pay with the maximum penalty,” he added.

had denounced threats

The native politician from the Andean town of Alausí, in the province of Chimborazo, had already denounced death threats against him in previous weeks, in the context of widespread concern for the safety of the candidates after other attacks that took place.

The mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, one of the most popular in the country, was recently assassinated in a similar way, and the same thing happened with a candidate for assembly in the northern province of Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia.

News of murders and massacres occur daily in the country which, according to the Government, are mainly linked to organized crime gangs and drug trafficking.