Ecuadorans head to the polls Sunday in a presidential election tarnished by the murder of a top candidate, which cast a spotlight on the violence ravaging a once-peaceful nation caught up in the global drug trade.Several political assassinations marked the run-up to the vote, with the murder of serious presidential contender Fernando Villavicencio just 11 days from the election underscoring the challenges facing the country.
Ecuador is holding a special election Sunday to pick a new president, with police and soldiers on guard against unprecedented violence, including the assassination of a candidate this month. Front-runners include an ally of exiled former President Rafael Correa and a millionaire with a security background promising to be tough on crime. “I don’t think the election will change anything,” said pharmacist Leidy Aguirre, 28, who has gradually stopped going out with friends over the past three years, out of fear of being robbed.
Amid heavy security, Ecuadorans headed to the polls Sunday in a presidential election tarnished by the murder of a top candidate, as the once-peaceful nation suffers from violence fueled by the illicit global drug trade.Villavicencio, who was polling second before his murder, was replaced last-minute by another journalist, Christian Zurita.
The family of assassinated Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has denounced the state for the crime of “murder by willful omission” two days before polls open on Sunday.
(Bloomberg) Ecuador had its credit score slashed Wednesday by Fitch Ratings, which cited heightened financing risks for the Latin American nation rocked last week by the assassination of a candidate for president.Most Read from BloombergFed Saw ‘Significant’ Inflation Risk That May Merit More HikesGoldman CEO’s Most Loyal Deputy Is Tested by Mutinous PartnersChina Shadow Bank Misses Dozens of Payments as Risks GrowStocks, Bonds Fall as Rate Hikes Left on the Table: Markets WrapHigh-Potency Po
Authorities moved the leader of one of Ecuador’s most powerful gangs into a maximum-security prison Saturday, three days after the assassination of a presidential candidate who had denounced threats from the feared criminal. President Guillermo Lasso said the relocation of Los Choneros leader Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” was meant “for the safety of citizens and detainees.” The gang boss was moved out of a jail with lighter security into a maximum-security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in the port city of Guayaquil.
While it is still unclear who was behind Villavicencio’s killing, it is evident that its effect will be to discredit the elections as a whole, creating the potential for their being overturned.
Some 4,000 Ecuadoran military and police officers on Saturday entered a prison in search of a powerful gang leader accused of having threatened a popular presidential candidate killed earlier this week, officials said.A week before the 59-year-old Villavicencio was killed, he had said that Fito was threatening him.