August 15, 2023

Five days following the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, another political crime shocks Ecuadorian society days before the presidential elections that will take place next Sunday. In this case, the victim was a leader close to former president Rafael Correawho, like Villavicencio, was shot to death.

The deceased was identified as Pedro Briones, a militant of the leftist Revolución Ciudadana (RC) party, politically linked to Correa. The event occurred in the parish of San Mateo, in the province of Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia. As confirmed by official sources, the man was shot at least once.

Attack in Ecuador: they shot dead the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio

The denunciation of the murder was made on social networks by the director of the Citizen Revolution in Esmeraldas, Janeth Bustos. “I have no words in the face of this tragedy that the family of Revolución Ciudadana is mourning. Fly high my dear Pedro Briones, I’ll take your last words, as a leader and militant. Rafael Correa lost one more “, he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

For her part, the presidential candidate of the RC, Luisa González, published that Briones was “fallen into the hands of violence” and blamed the management of Guillermo Lasso for the increase in insecurity. “Ecuador is experiencing its bloodiest era. We owe this to the total abandonment of an inept government and a state taken over by mafias. My solidarity hug to the family of comrade Pedro Briones, who fell into the hands of violence. Change is urgent!” González remarked.

In line with your statements, Correa also regretted the murder: “They murdered another of our colleagues in Esmeralda. Enough!” In addition to this, the former Assemblywoman Paola Cabezas He expressed his anger and anguish over his partner’s crime. “Another loss that breaks our souls. A murderous bullet ended his life. Even when! Solidarity with his family. For you dear friend, we are going to win,” the woman published in X.

The background to the crime of Pedro Briones and Fernando Villavicencio

The murder of Villavicencio and Briones were not isolated episodes in the history of Ecuador. Before those events, other politicians and candidates had also been assassinated in a similar way. In this sense, two cases that occurred in July were the mayor of Manta, Augustine Intriagoand the candidate for assembly member for Esmeraldas Ryder Sanchezfrom the Actuemos alliance, led by former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner.

Another resounding event was the murder of Omar Menendez, RC candidate for mayor of Puerto López, which occurred the day before the vote of municipal authorities held on February 5. Added to this, one day following the Villavicencio crime, They shot an assemblywoman in Los Ríosbut the woman managed to escape unharmed from the attack.

This series of murders occurred within the framework of a surge of violence in Ecuador. In this regard, 2022 ended with 25.32 homicides per hundred thousand inhabitants, the highest figure in its history. According to the Government, this phenomenon occurs due to organized crime and drug trafficking, which took hold in the country’s coastal zone and turned the ports into large shuttles to deliver cocaine to the United States and Latin America.

MB / ED