Ecuador: widow of assassinated presidential candidate victim of attack

Fate is against the Villavicencio couple. The widow of the presidential candidate assassinated in Ecuador a few days before the first round in August, was the victim of an assassination attempt on Wednesday September 27denounced Christian Zurita, best friend of the late candidate and his replacement for the nomination.

“Veronica Sarauz, wife of Fernando Villavicencio, has just been the victim of an attack“, declared Christian Zurita on X (ex-Twitter), without specifying whether people had been injured.

His security service “arrested a Venezuelan citizen on a motorcycle with a gun who tried to attack the car she was in,” he added. Quito police called the arrest an “isolated procedure”concerning “a foreign citizen” who “was riding a motorcycle in a suspicious manner in the “bus” corridor and carrying a firearm”, on X (ex-Twitter).

Suspected Villavicencio killer shot dead

Fernando Villavicencio, an investigative journalist known for his reports on corruption, was killed on August 9 by several gunshots while he was in his car. Six Colombians were arrested, while the suspected killer was killed.

Christian Zurita replaced him during the early voting of August 20 and came in third place with 16% of the votes. Left-wing candidate Luisa Gonzalez (34%) and right-wing candidate Daniel Noboa (23%) will contest the second round on October 15.

Once considered an island of peace in Latin America, Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s two largest producers of cocaine, is hit by an unprecedented wave of violence linked to organized crime and drug trafficking. The homicide rate has quadrupled since 2018, from 6 to 26 per 100,000 inhabitants.