Three bullets didn’t just end the life of the presidential candidate. Ecuador was fearless, powerless, shocked, outraged.

Fernando Villavicencio was killed at dusk on August 9, 2023. Despite being in police custody, the killers approached him and fired their guns. In this moment of outrage, what can the state say, what will happen in the state, who is responsible for this new crime that is international news? Too many unanswered questions.

In Carondelet, the Government is meeting at the time when we transmitted this editorial. There is powerlessness and pain on the streets, beyond trends, political sympathies or preferences. It is outrageous that one of the candidates who was known to be threatened was killed eleven days before the presidential elections.

Who was Fernando Villavicencio, the presidential candidate who was assassinated in Ecuador?

What were the security proposals of Fernando Villavicencio, the presidential candidate killed in Ecuador?

The mobs that killed Fernando Villavicencio want to sow terror in the country. Answers cannot be lukewarm, citizens do not ask for force, they demand it, they shout it.

In his speech, Villavicencio – who is not the first politician killed in the middle of the current election period – did not limit himself to complaints.

The politician is gone, his family, his friends, his followers bear the pain. Ecuador is full of indignation, but also of fear of going out into the streets. The country bears the anger of not being able to believe that this time there will be justice, but there is no right to lose hope that better days are coming, as citizens we repeat the request to live in peace. The shadow of the night cannot be the destiny of Ecuador, there is no room for hatred, crime or inefficiency.

The presidential candidates talk about the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio

“In memory of him and his struggle, I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” Lasso said after the killing of Fernando Villavicencio

President, act, react. The police, the armed forces, the ministers, the judiciary, you all have a duty to do justice for the presidential candidate, for the mayor of Manta, for Esmeralda’s candidate, for the father of the family killed on the street corner. Don’t let the criminals continue to take over Ecuador. (OR)