Villavicencio's premonitory statements in Ecuador hours before he died: "Let the hitmen come"

The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has died this Wednesday after suffering an attack at a rally in Quito allegedly perpetuated by hitmen. The event has moved the national conscience in the midst of the insecurity crisis that plagues Ecuador and that every time seems to get worse.

The country's presidential candidate, a prestigious investigative journalist known for his denunciations of corruption and drug trafficking, persistently made statements, aware of the enmity he generated in the most important cartels.. One day before he was killed, Villavicencio had spoken to his supporters, challenging criminals to come after him.. “Let the hit men come, here I am,” he had said.

“I have been told to wear the vest. You are my bulletproof vest, who take care of me. I am brave like you,” Villavicencio says in a video posted on his social networks hours before he was shot.

Who was Fernando Villavicencio, murdered in Quito

During the electoral campaign, Villavicencio had been very critical of drug trafficking mafias and the growing insecurity in the country.. “Our campaign proposal seriously affects these criminal structures,” he declared in early August before the local media.

In an interview with EFE carried out in May after announcing his presidential aspiration, Villavicencio, who initially identified himself as a moderate left and now claimed to be from the center, assured that he wanted to be president to “confront and defeat the mafias that have co-opted the State and bring society to its knees”.

“They have threatened me, if I continue referring to the Sinaloa cartel and its structure, they will attempt on my life. I am showing my face, I am not afraid of them,” he said days before his death.