Fernando Villavicencio, who ranked second in the polls among eight presidential candidates for the August 20th election, was shot and killed on Wednesday evening after a campaign rally.
Fernando Villavicencio, a 59-year-old centrist candidate, was one of the eight contenders in the first round of the Ecuadorian presidential election scheduled for August 20th. He was shot and killed after an electoral rally on Wednesday, August 9th, as announced by Ecuador’s President, Guillermo Lasso.
According to recent polls, Fernando Villavicencio was in second place in the voting intentions with around 13%, behind lawyer Luisa Gonzalez, who is closely associated with former leftist President Rafael Correa. President Guillermo Lasso reacted to the assassination on social media, expressing his “outrage and shock.” He vowed, “I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished.”
In response to the incident, Lasso urgently convened a meeting of high-level security officials in the evening. Ecuador is facing a wave of violence linked to drug trafficking that has already resulted in the deaths of a mayor and a parliamentary candidate amid the ongoing electoral process.
