A commission from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrived in Ecuador to coordinate support for the investigations around the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, killed by hitmen last Wednesday after leading a political rally in Quito.
This was announced by the Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, at a press conference in which he gave details of the progress of the investigation into the murder of the candidate, one of the eight who had registered for the elections next Sunday 20 of August.
The FBI commission “has made contact with the national Police” and in the next few hours a “tripartite” meeting will be held with the State Attorney General’s Officewhich is the holder of the instruction in the case, Zapata pointed out.
The minister added that this meeting will determine “the scope of collaboration and support” that the FBI will give in the investigation of the crime, whose participation was requested by the Ecuadorian president himself, the conservative Guillermo Lasso.
Zapata announced that, if the Prosecutor’s Office so defines it, the FBI could support the “exploitation” or extraction of information contained in several mobile phones seized during the first police actions after the shooting against the presidential candidate.
In communication with Colombia
The minister also did not rule out the possibility of requesting collaboration from other foreign organizations, like the Colombian Police, since the six suspects arrested for the crime are of that nationality.
In fact, the Colombian authorities have delivered to the Ecuadorian information related to the six detainees, as well as another subject of that nationality who was killed after the shooting and who is accused of executing the shots against Villavicencio.
“International collaboration is never ruled out” and even more with Colombia, with which there is close cooperation for sharing a border, Zapata added.
In this regard, the General Commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, who accompanied Zapata at the press conference, recalled that after the crime in Villavicencio, at the end of last Wednesday afternoon, he coordinated with the neighboring authorities to alert them to the eventual passage of a suspicious person from Ecuador.
Keep reading:
– Six arrested in Ecuador for the shooting murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio during a campaign event
– Ecuador: Rafael Correa spoke after the assassination of candidate Fernando Villavicencio after being accused of threatening phrases before the crime
– Video shows when Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio challenges drug traffickers to go for him in the middle of a campaign rally
