The Suspect In The Murder Of Fernando Villavicencio Is A Colombian, Ecuadorian President, Asks The FBI For Help

Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio. (Wikimedia Commons/Asamblea Nacional del Ecuador)

JAKARTA - The Ecuadorian government is hunting for the intellectual mastermind of the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, while police say one suspect who died and six others arrested were Colombian citizens, with the FBI seeking assistance in investigating the incident.

The fatal shooting on Wednesday night, less than two weeks before an election, has sent shockwaves across the South American country, causing several rivals to suspend campaigns.

Villavicencio, an outspoken critic of corruption and organized crime, was killed leaving a late-night campaign event at an educational facility in northern Quito.

The deceased suspect died from wounds sustained in the exchange of gunfire, the attorney general's office said on Wednesday. Nine people, including a legislative candidate and two police officers, were injured, he added.

The suspect who died was arrested on weapons charges in July, the government said on Thursday, adding that the six people being detained were members of an organized crime group. The police press office confirmed their nationalities on Thursday afternoon.

"The national police have now made the first arrests of the suspects, who are suspected of being the perpetrators of this heinous event and will use all their operational and investigative capacities, to find out the motives of this crime and its intellectual mastermind," Interior Minister Juan Zapata told reporters. Cited from Reuters, August 11.

He solicitado apoyo al FBI para la investigación del asesinato del candidato presidencial Fernando Villavicencio Valencia. La Agencia Federal de Investigación e Inteligencia de EEUU aceptó nuestra petición y en las próximas horas una delegación llegará al país.

— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) August 10, 2023

Meanwhile, President Guillermo Lasso said the crime was clearly an attempt to sabotage the upcoming election. However, he insisted the vote would go ahead as planned on August 20, despite the national emergency.

Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint also confirmed that the Ecuador Presidential Election would also continue as planned, citing CNN.

President Lasso, who declared three days of mourning, said he had asked the US Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance in investigating the events.

"I have requested support from the FBI for the investigation into the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio Valencia. The US Federal Intelligence and Investigation Service has accepted our request and in the coming hours a delegation will arrive," he tweeted.

As well as calling on the FBI and declaring three days of mourning, President Lasso has also declared a 60-day state of emergency and the mobilization of the armed forces across the country.

In line with this, Defense Minister Luis Lara said the armed forces were deployed throughout the country and would remain deployed until the end of the election process.

"Citizens have assurances that the armed forces will provide the necessary security for the conduct of the vote, the Ecuadorian vote will be the best response to the mafia and its allies," he said.

It is known that violence in Ecuador has spiked in recent years, especially in cities along drug-trafficking routes such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas, where residents say they live in fear.

There were 3,500 violent deaths in Ecuador in the first half of this year, according to police figures, with nearly half in the largest city, Guayaquil.