The assassination of Fernando Villavicencio accelerates the transit of Ecuador towards a failed state. The road to that destination goes through a transformation, even faster, into a narco-state. Colombia has passed that phase, Mexico is also going through it, and its stuttering president claims that there is no need to pick at the mess that was created by the interweaving of politics with drug cartels. The attack has all the characteristics of that dark marriage. It is a political crime, and at the same time it is a product of transnational organized crime. This makes the investigation and identification of the perpetrators more complex, which should be the main goal of the state at this time. Efforts should be directed there, without stagnating in material authors, which in these cases are disposable pieces.

Those in charge of the investigation must scrutinize the cases he uncovered, especially those that Fernando Villavicencio intended to uncover. The whole country knows, because he made them known, that there are names, institutions, positions, parties, criminal groups, relationships between all of them, money transfers, fake contracts, connections with people and organizations abroad and endless traces. You have to start by following their thread to get to the central core or, more likely, the decentralized cores, as this is how these groups operate to cover their tracks.

The one he left the day before the assassination, when he announced to the prosecutor’s office new evidence of corruption, with names and surnames, in the commercialization of oil will be a very important mark. Through his own research and that of his colleagues, the country learned about the million dollar dance surrounding this activity. There is evidence of a criminal relationship between politicians, high-ranking public officials and the international mafia operating there, so much so that those involved in previously reported cases are already on trial in the United States. The participation of the FBI in the investigation of the murder will undoubtedly be crucial so that on this occasion some details do not go unnoticed, such as the path of the dirty money. For all these reasons, it will be absolutely necessary that the documents he collected in this regard be found and protected.

The best tribute to the memory of Fernando Villavicencio will be to give continuity to his work. Surely his colleagues, like Christian Zurita, will take care of it, but it should not be the task of isolated people who are subject to any action of political-mafia groups. Paying tribute is not only necessary for a tireless investigative journalist and a citizen who tried to set ethical standards in politics, but it is a national task. The murder of Villavicencio has put the country in front of the darkest and most rotten part of its own reality, and it is not only his colleagues or his supporters who must take responsibility for the necessary cleanup. If this does not require the structuring of a national agreement (in which, obviously, the corrupt, gangsters and murderers cannot fit), then we can ensure that all is lost and that the country will become a narco-state and will be one step away from a failed state. (OR)