World Courant
It was a second that plunged the Ecuadorian presidential race into chaos. As anti-corruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio bought right into a automobile on the finish of a marketing campaign rally, gunfire tore by the group and killed him simply days earlier than the primary spherical of voting.
As Ecuador prepares for Sunday’s essential second spherical – a second vote that may determine the nation’s subsequent president – a brand new wave of bloodshed has as soon as once more thrown the race into turmoil.
On October 6, rumors started spreading on-line that six of the suspects arrested in Villavicencio’s homicide had themselves been murdered behind bars.
“Might it not be that the federal government of (Ecuadorian President) Guillermo Lasso and the Ecuadorian police need to cover the reality about these occasions?” SOS Prisons Ecuador, a human rights non-profit group, Posted on the social media platform X.
Hours later the information was confirmed. Ecuador’s corrections company, the Nationwide Service for Consideration to Individuals Disadvantaged of Liberty, or SNAI, acknowledged the suspects’ deaths, which befell within the notorious Litoral Penitentiary, identified for its violence.
“All (captured people) had been Colombian nationals and had been charged with the assassination of ex-presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio,” SNAI mentioned in its report. press launch.
The following day, one other suspect within the Villavicencio taking pictures was discovered lifeless in El Inca jail in northern Quito. Of the group of suspects being investigated for the homicide, solely six are nonetheless alive.
The exact circumstances of the murders stay unknown. However consultants and sources near the case warned that the suspects’ deaths might have far-reaching penalties for the way forward for politics in Ecuador.
“5 p.c of voters are very unpredictable,” pollster Omar Maluk advised Al Jazeera. “If one thing occurs, they alter their minds.”
Late presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio speaks throughout his final rally within the capital Quito on August 9 (File: Karen Toro/Reuters)
A detailed election
Maluk believes the implications of the seven murders might weigh closely on Sunday’s vote. The 2 candidates for the second election are at an deadlock: the left-wing candidate Luisa González and the centrist enterprise chief Daniel Noboa.
Noboa began the month with a slight lead over Gonzalez, Maluk defined, however the latter recovered after the ultimate presidential debate aired earlier this month.
Now Maluk sees the dynamics altering once more. “Noboa is rising, whereas Gonzalez is slowly declining,” he mentioned. “It is nonetheless a technical draw.”
However Gonzalez’s political mentor, former President Rafael Correa, has been below scrutiny since Villavicencio’s assassination on August 9.
Villavicencio, a former journalist and politician, was a long-time critic of Correa, who ruled from 2007 to 2017. He filed complaints in opposition to members of Correa’s authorities, and Correa filed a profitable lawsuit in opposition to him for defamation.
Nevertheless, Correa was convicted in 2020 on corruption-related costs. He has denied wrongdoing, dismissed the case as political persecution and has since lived in exile in Belgium.
Journalist Christian Zurita changed the late Fernando Villavicencio as presidential candidate for the Movimiento Construye social gathering (File: Henry Romero/Reuters)
Journalist Christian Zurita – who changed Villavicencio as presidential candidate for the Movimiento Construye social gathering after his dying – believes the August homicide could possibly be linked to that historical past of pressure with Correa’s political motion.
He cited what he mentioned was unreleased testimony in interviews with Al Jazeera and media retailers in Ecuador, together with the El Universo newspaper.
“This man mentioned the crime is linked to the federal government of former President Rafael Correa,” Zurita advised Al Jazeera. No public proof has been introduced to assist this declare. The witness gave his testimony to the federal government final Sunday, however his identification stays secret.
Correa, in the meantime, has strongly rejected the accusation on social media, calling it an try and derail Gonzalez’s marketing campaign.
“That they had him accuse us on October 10, 5 days earlier than the elections,” Correa mentioned mentioned of the alleged witness. “Something that stands in the best way of our victory.”
Villavicencio had mentioned he had acquired dying threats from cartels within the lead-up to his homicide. Crime has turn into a number one difficulty within the upcoming presidential election, with candidates sporting physique armor as they pause their marketing campaign.
Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa seems through video to assist presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez at a rally in August (File: Henry Romero/Reuters)
A blow to the investigation
Within the aftermath of the deaths of the seven suspects, Zurita has additionally criticized public authorities below the federal government of outgoing President Lasso.
“The state is in the end accountable for the lives and deaths of those folks. The secretary of prisons ought to have ensured their security,” Zurita advised Al Jazeera.
After the lethal assaults on Villavicencio’s suspects, Lasso fired the director of Ecuador’s jail group and likewise ousted leaders of the nationwide police. He additionally transferred the remaining six suspects from the services the place they had been being held.
Ecuador’s public prosecutor additionally opened an investigation into the jail company SNAI for failing to adjust to an order to switch the suspects to safer services.
However the suspects’ deaths have shaken public confidence in whether or not justice will be served within the Villavicencio case.
The scenario “poses a significant issue,” lawyer Ricardo Vanegas advised Al Jazeera. The suspects “had been the one ones who knew who the instigators had been.”
Officers from Ecuador’s Nationwide Electoral Council have visited the houses of aged and disabled folks to make sure they will vote in Sunday’s race (Karen Toro/Reuters)
Vanegas represents Villavicencio’s adopted daughter Cristina Villavicencio. He has spoken out about his perception that the investigation is riddled with irregularities.
Vanegas claims proof has gone lacking, together with Villavicencio’s cellphone, which he mentioned was final seen at a well being care heart after the taking pictures.
“Fernando mentioned on radio and TV packages that he had acquired threats from legal teams and politicians,” Vanegas mentioned. “So the cellular is a device to determine who these individuals are, but it surely has not but been delivered.”
“There are a variety of issues which have been incorrect because the starting of the investigation,” mentioned Daniel Ponton, professor of safety and protection at Ecuador’s Nationwide Institute for Increased Research. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the USA is presently aiding within the case.
As for Zurita, he speculated that the seven suspects had been killed to keep up their silence, in case they took a plea deal.
“In a authorized course of they most likely might have reached an settlement to scale back their conviction,” he claimed. “They had been killed because of this.”
How will the deaths of high-profile homicide suspects have an effect on Ecuador’s elections? | Elections information
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