City of Panama.- Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republicfounders of the Alliance for Development in Democracy (ADD), condemned this Thursday the “worrying murder” of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and asked that the security of the candidates for the first magistracy of that country be guaranteed.
Ecuador, a member country of the ADD, will hold extraordinary general elections on August 20, a date that remains, according to the country’s president, Guillermo Lasso, who this Thursday decreed a state of emergency at the national level for 60 days for murder on Wednesday in Villavicencio at the hands of hitmen.
“We strongly condemn this tragic act of violence and extend our heartfelt condolences to the relatives of Mr. Villavicencio,” the three governments indicated in an official statement.
Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic also expressed their “solidarity to the Government and people” of Ecuador “before the worrying murder” of Villavicencio, an action that “compromised the lives of other Ecuadorians present in the place.”
They added that shortly after the special elections they reject “all threats and actions of electoral violence.”
The three governments emphasized that “the security of the candidates for the presidency must be guaranteed so that the electoral process can be carried out with the participation of citizens in a framework of transparency and pluralism, necessary for the preservation of peace and democracy.” ».
Villavicencio, a 59-year-old journalist and former assemblyman, fell victim to bullets after attending a political rally in the Ecuadorian capital on Wednesday, in the middle of the election campaign.
Like other candidates, Villavicencio proposed a frontal fight against organized crime mafias, in the midst of an electoral campaign marked by the worst security crisis in Ecuador’s history, which last year closed 2022 with a rate of 25.32 deaths. violence per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest since records were kept.
Ecuador suffers an escalation of violence due to the action of criminal gangs that also recently claimed the lives of the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intriago, and a candidate for assembly in the northern province of Esmeraldas.
