Six people were killed in an Ecuadorian prison on Friday. According to the prison authority it concerns six Colombian men who were suspected of involvement in the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Former journalist Villavicencio, who spoke out in his campaign against cooperation between government officials and organized crime, was murdered during a campaign rally in August.
The Colombian six suspected of his murder were being held in a prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s second-largest city in the southwestern part of the country. The six men were arrested shortly after Villavicencio’s murder. The suspected shooter, also Colombian, was shot dead by police during his arrest. The background to the multiple murder in prison is still unknown. It is more common for murders to take place in the prison in Guayaquil, where (drug) gangs have a major influence.
Guayaquil’s main prison, known as Penitenciaría del Litoral, has asked the army to restore order. This is possible because Eucadoran President Guillermo Lasso recently declared a state of emergency for prisons in the country. The president has announced that he will urgently return from New York, where he has been staying since last Thursday. On X he writes not to “cover up” anything. The truth will come to light,” he said.
The first round of the presidential elections on August 21 did not produce a winner. A second and decisive round will take place next week, on October 15. In it, the left-wing Luisa González takes on Daniel Noboa, son of a wealthy businessman who made his fortune by exporting bananas. Christian Zurita, the candidate who replaced Villavicencio on the ballot, did not make it to the second round.
Also read: With the murder of a presidential candidate, Ecuador is sliding further towards a narco-state