Developing: President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying.
— A popular Ecuadoran presidential candidate was shot dead while leaving a rally in the nation's capital on Wednesday, prompting President Guillermo Lasso to declare a state of emergency and blame the assassination on organized crime. Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old anti-corruption crusader who had complained of receiving threats, was murdered as he was leaving a stadium in Quito after holding a campaign rally, officials said.
The president also declared three days of national mourning"to honor the memory of a patriot, of Fernando Villavicencio Valencia." Carlos Figueroa, a friend of Villavicencio's who was with him at the time of the attack, told local media that the assailants fired around 30 shots. National police officers work at the crime scene of an attack on a patrol car where two policemen were killed in the Maria Piedad neighborhood in Duran, Ecuador, November 1, 2022. "Organized crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will be applied to them," Lasso said in his post.
National Court of Justice president Ivan Saquicela called Villavicencio's murder"very painful for the country."The United States, Spain, Chile and the Organization of American States observer mission have also condemned the crime.
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