Ecuador is living a terrible moment. Presidential candidate Luisa González has just accepted the security of the Armed Forces in the face of threats directed at her. His opponent, Daniel Noboa, has been wearing a bulletproof vest since the presidential debate.
Like all Ecuadorians, the candidates for Carondelet are threatened by organized crime that seeks to sow terror in the country with murders, massacres, car bombs…
There is a threat to democracy when authorities like the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, are assassinated; councilor Esmeraldas Jairo Olaya or the candidate for the president of Ecuador, Fernando Villavicencio. And also when he threatens others who start reporting it to the prosecutor’s office, like the mayor of Guayaquil Aquiles Alvarez.
Gunfire and screams around a shopping center in northern Quito
Daniel Noboa argued on Eco TV Panama that there is no free participation or free democracy when you take to the streets at the risk of being killed. He said this the day after the crime in Villavicencio, August 10.
Luisa González draws comparisons with Colombia in the 1980s or 1990s.”Democracy is affected when, instead of winning the elections, they want to take the life of a candidate,” she said this week on Medio Mundo radio.
She talks about a court case in which one person involved said that Luisa González was the target of some of the bombs.
They leave an abandoned body with a threatening message against the leader of a gang operating in El Oro
The seriousness of the applicant’s denunciation and the suspicion that she is leaving air around the election is undeniable. Investigations must be completed urgently and those responsible must be clearly found. The protection of both candidates is in the hands of the state, except that they can use private security guards, bulletproof vests, helmets, armored cars or other means.
We must not forget the protection of all citizens who do not have access to such things, but are victims of threats from extortionists. Democracy is at stake today in crime control. (OR)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
