Quit.- Alleged members of the criminal gang known as “The Wolves” denied having assassinated the candidate for the Presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio, as noted in a video that went viral, and in which a group of men, who claimed to be from that same organization, claimed responsibility for the act.
“Ecuador, do not be fooled. We are the GDO (organized crime group) Los Lobos, we do not cover our faces, nobody speaks for us and we do comply with peace”, says a man in the video, of unknown origin, in which he appears surrounded by several men dressed in white.
“We make it clear that we have never murdered people from the government or civilians and we clarify that the video that circulates on social networks, in which he appears in a group of people with their faces covered, with assault rifles, posing as members of our organization, it is totally false, “they pointed out.
The person who acts as a spokesman assures that none of those who appear in the video that circulated on Wednesday night belong to “Los Lobos” and points out that with this “it is clear that other criminal groups want to destabilize the country, and hold other GDOs responsible. , like ours, Los Lobos, of the tragedy that is happening right now” in Ecuador.
He appealed to the authorities to “investigate and find the real culprits and not be fooled by people who make videos, covering his face so as not to assume responsibility for his actions, which threaten the security of the State in the citizenship.
VIRAL VIDEO
The new video refers to another piece, also of unknown origin, where a large group of heavily armed, hooded men appear, who self-identify as the criminal gang “Los Lobos” and who claim the murder of Villavicencio.
In this short recording, a man reads a statement at a table surrounded by a large group displaying rifles and other weapons of war and, with his mouth covered by a balaclava, is heard saying that the murder is supposedly for being received. money from organized crime for the electoral campaign and not fulfilling what was promised.
This voice also issues a warning about security specialist Jan Topic, another presidential candidate who, like Villavicencio, is emphatic in offering a frontal fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, to which the Government largely blames the rise of insecurity in Ecuador and homicides.
Until now, no authority has referred to the dissemination of these videos, which at the moment do not have a clear origin of the way in which they began to be disseminated through instant messaging groups and social networks.
SIX DETAINED
As a result of the attack there are six people arrested in various raids in Quito, although the authorities have not indicated whether the people arrested are members of “Los Lobos”.
“Los Lobos” is one of the largest criminal gangs operating in Ecuador and one of the causes of the security crisis that the country is going through, as well as the series of prison massacres where more than 400 prisoners have been murdered since 2020 in clashes between criminal groups, who dispute the internal control of prisons in Ecuador.
“Los Lobos”, as well as other organized crime gangs that operate in Ecuador such as “Los Tiguerones” and “Los Choneros”, have mainly drug trafficking and extortion among their illicit businesses, according to the authorities.
The bulk of this criminal violence occurs mainly on the coast of Ecuador, where one of the main drug trafficking routes passes, which has made Ecuadorian ports great springboards to send large quantities of cocaine to Europe and the United States through maritime trade. Joined.
The increase in homicides made Ecuador break the record for violent deaths in 2022 with a rate of 25.32 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest in its history.
