2023-08-15 04:16:45
Five days after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Ecuador, a local politician was killed in the north of the country on Monday. Pedro Briones, leader of left-leaning former President Rafael Correa’s Civic Revolution party in Esmeraldas province, was shot dead by unknown gunmen, his party said.
Local media, citing a police source, reported that Briones was shot dead by two men on a motorcycle at his home in the city of San Mateo. Luisa González, one of the top candidates for the presidential election on August 20, who was close to Correo, expressed her solidarity with the family of the dead man on the online service X. “Ecuador is going through its bloodiest period,” she said, denouncing “complete neglect by an incompetent government” and a “state taken over by criminal gangs.”
Correa himself also expressed himself in an online service: “You have murdered another of our colleagues in Esmeraldas. Enough is enough!”, The former president wrote.
The promising presidential candidate Villavicencio, who had dedicated himself to fighting corruption in the South American country, was shot dead on Wednesday after a rally in the capital Quito. As a journalist, he had investigated possible corruption crimes committed by former President Correa.
The 59-year-old centrist was one of the most promising of eight candidates for the early presidential election at the end of August. In the most recent polls by the Cedatos Institute, he was in second place behind lawyer González with around 13 percent of the vote. The parliamentary elections scheduled for August 20 are to take place as planned.
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