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Soldiers patrol an area next a road prior to Sunday's presidential election, in Quito, Ecuador.
Violence rages days before Ecuador's presidential vote
Less than a week after a presidential candidate was shot on the campaign trail in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, another politician was assassinated on Tuesday in the northern province of Esmeralda.
Pedro Briones, a local leader of the Revolución Ciudadana Party, was killed by a gunman on Tuesday, though details about the attacker remain scarce.
This comes just days after Fernando Villavicencio, an anti-crime warrior, was shot and killed ahead of the presidential ballot on Aug. 20. What’s more, in recent weeks, Agustín Intriago, the mayor of Manta, Ecuador’s third largest city, was also assassinated.
While there doesn’t appear to be a direct connection between these events, together they demonstrate the depths of the gang-related crime problem sweeping the country – which now has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America.
Looking ahead: The killing of Villavicencio is having a significant impact on the vote. While Luisa Gonzales of the progressive Citizen Revolution Movement is still ahead in the polls, her chances of winning outright in a first round (reaping 50% of the vote) are dropping fast as some voters appear to blame her party (which long clashed with Villavicencio) for her rival’s demise. A competitive runoff would likely be held in October.Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waves an Ecuadorian flag as he attends a rally in Quito, Ecuador, on Aug. 9, 2023.
Ecuador’s anti-corruption candidate assassinated
Villavicencio, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement and was polling fifth out of eight candidates in an election largely focused on Ecuador’s epidemic of gang violence. He was known for brazenly calling out corruption, organized crime, and drug traffickers. When embattled President Guillermo Lasso – who is not on the ballot – confirmed the assassination, he suggested that organized crime was responsible for the shooting.
Villavicencio’s assassination isn’t an isolated event. Over the past five years, Ecuador has been ravaged by violence associated with drug trafficking. Just a few weeks ago, the mayor of Manta was also assassinated. But Villavicencio’s death marks the first time that a presidential candidate has been killed on the campaign trail, upping the fear and outrage over the country’s growing security crisis.