Ecuador presidential candidate assassinated during campaign rally

[ReasonableMatic]

They caught him while he was getting in his vehicle.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Albanians Traffickers probably behind it

 

[get these nets]

World News

Ecuador arrests six Colombians as suspects in slaying of anti-corruption presidential candidate​

Lorena Villavicencio, sister of slain presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, embraces her husband outside the morgue where her brother’s body is being held, in Quito, Ecuador

August 10, 2023

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — The six men arrested as suspects in the assassination of an anti-corruption Ecuadorian presidential candidate are Colombian nationals, a police report said Thursday as authorities investigated the motive for a crime that shocked a nation already reeling from a surge in drug-related violence.
The six men were captured hiding in a house in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, said the report, which was reviewed by The Associated Press. Officers also seized four shotguns, a 5.56-mm rifle, ammunition and three grenades, along with a vehicle and a motorcycle, it said.
Fernando Villavicencio, 59, who was known for speaking up against drug cartels, was assassinated in Quito on Wednesday, less than two weeks before a special presidential election. He was not a front-runner, but his death deepened the sense of crisis around organized crime that has already claimed thousands of lives and underscored the challenge that Ecuador’s next leader will face.

Ecuador’s interior minister, Juan Zapata, had earlier confirmed the arrest of some foreigners in the case, although he didn’t give their nationalities.
Zapata described the killing as a “political crime of a terrorist nature” aimed at sabotaging the Aug. 20 presidential election.
The police report doesn’t say whether the Colombians are alleged members of a criminal group. Zapata said those arrested were linked to organized crime, although he didn’t give more details.


Villavicencio had said he was threatened by affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador. He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups.
The involvement of Colombian nationals brings to the mind the 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot a dozen times at his private home. Among the people arrested in the case are 18 former soldiers from Colombia.

Video of the rally in Quito posted on social media appeared to show Villavicencio walking out of the rally surrounded by guards. The footage then showed the candidate getting into a white pickup truck before gunshots were heard, followed by screams and commotion around the truck.

 

[get these nets]

Leader of Ecuadorian crime gang moved to maximum-security prison days after candidate’s killing​

August 12, 2023

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — Authorities moved the leader of one of Ecuador’s most powerful gangs into a maximum-security prison Saturday, three days after the assassination of a presidential candidate who had denounced threats from the feared criminal.
President Guillermo Lasso said the relocation of Los Choneros leader Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” was meant “for the safety of citizens and detainees.”
The gang boss was moved out of a jail with lighter security into a maximum-security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in the port city of Guayaquil.

“Ecuador will recover peace and security,” Lasso tweeted. “If violent reactions arise, we will act with full force.”

About 4,000 soldiers and police officers raided the jail where Macías was being held Saturday and seized weapons, ammunition and explosives. Corrections officials released images of the raid showing several prisoners, including Macías, who is serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking, organized crime and homicide.


Ecuador’s transformation into a major drug trafficking hub and the ensuing three-year surge of violence reached a new level with Wednesday’s assassination of Fernando Villavicencio during a campaign rally in Quito, the capital. The candidate, who was not a front-runner, was known for speaking up against drug cartels.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the killing. An Ecuadorian judge on Friday ordered preventive detention for six Colombian men described by authorities as being suspected of involvement in the slaying.
Villavicencio, 59, was one of eight registered candidates for the Aug. 20 presidential election. He had accused Los Choneros and Macías, whom he linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

Villavicencio believed popular support would keep him safe.
“You’re my bulletproof vest. I don’t need one. You’re a brave people and I’m as brave as you are,” he said at a public meeting in the city of Chone, the heart of Los Choneros territory. “Bring on the drug lords. Bring on the hitmen.”
Interior Minister Juan Zapata on Thursday described the assassination as a “political crime of a terrorist nature” aimed at sabotaging the election.
The snap election was called after Lasso, a conservative former banker, dissolved the National Assembly by decree in May, acting to avoid being impeached over allegations that he failed to intervene to end a faulty contract between the state-owned oil transport company and a private tanker company. Lasso isn’t running in the election.

 

[Gritsngravy]

It’s really real in the field, im sure being a thorough politician in South America is probably dangerous

 

[get these nets]

And to think, when we posted about Honduras dropping the hammer and coming down hard on gangs, dudes were actually talking that aclu shyt.
MFers have no clue the level of violence these drug trafficking networks are capable.

 

[get these nets]

Political leader in Ecuador is killed less than a week after presidential candidate’s assassination​

August 15, 2023
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — The unprecedented violence shaking Ecuador claimed the life of another political leader Monday, bringing the number of politics-related slayings within the last four weeks to three, including that of a presidential candidate.
The fatal shooting of Pedro Briones, a local leader of Revolución Ciudadana, the party of former President Rafael Correa, was confirmed by Luisa González, the frontrunner in Sunday’s special presidential election and member of the same party.
The shooting happened in the northern province of Esmeraldas. Details were not immediately available.

“Ecuador is experiencing its bloodiest era,” González tweeted. “A heartfelt hug to the family of colleague Pedro Briones, fallen by the hands of violence.”

The killing of Briones, who was a political leader in a rural area of San Mateo de Esmeraldas, came less than a week after the South American country was rocked by the assassination in broad daylight of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had a famously tough stance on organized crime and corruption. Villavicencio was killed at the end of a political rally in Quito, the capital, despite having a security detail that included police and bodyguards.


Their slayings followed the July 26 fatal shooting of the mayor of Manta, Ecuador’s third largest city. Agustín Intriago, 38, had recently been re-elected to a term that began in May.
Thousands of people have been killed over the past three years in Ecuador as the country has transformed into a major drug trafficking hub and cartel-aided local gangs battle for control of the streets, prisons and drug routes. Crime and violence have dominated the discussions around Sunday’s election.

At least 400 inmates have died since 2021 during various riots.
On Saturday, authorities moved the leader of one of the country’s most powerful gangs, Los Choneros, into a maximum-security prison. Villavicencio had accused the group and its leader, Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” whom he linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

The gang boss was moved out of a jail with lighter security into a maximum-security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in the port city of Guayaquil. The transfer occurred after about 4,000 soldiers and police officers raided the jail where Macías was being held and seized weapons, ammunition and explosives.
In response, jail inmates on Monday protested and hung signs demanding Macías be transferred back.
“We want peace return Fito,” read one of the signs visible from the road outside the complex, which dozens of police officers and members of the armed forces guarded after supporters of Macías arrived on motorcycles to protest his relocation.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for Villavicencio’s killing. An Ecuadorian judge on Friday ordered preventive detention for six Colombian men described by authorities as being suspected of involvement in the slaying. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.
.

The country’s National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, far more than the 2,042 reported during the same period in 2022. That year ended with 4,600 violent deaths, the country’s highest in history and double the total in 2021.

 

[Mowgli]

Colombia and political assassinations

 

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Drug cartels unleash wave of violence in Ecuador​

Jan 10, 2024
Ecuador's president has declared a state of emergency and warned that the country has entered an “internal armed conflict” due to the drug gang violence. Violence in Ecuador has unleashed a wave of terror among the population