Villavicencio, identified as a staunch critic of the former president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), mobilized with police protection in the face of threats he had received weeks before.
According to information from local media, special agents were investigating the possibility of placing an explosive device in the coliseum of an educational unit in which the candidate was proselytizing.
Villavicencio’s murder occurred at a time when the country is experiencing an escalation of violence due to the action of criminal gangs.
Multiple reports of murders, massacres, extortions, attacks with explosives, among other crimes, are reproduced dailywhich have sown terror among Ecuadorians who have suffered from this type of violent acts for a little over two years.
The situation that the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio sought to face
Ecuador closed 2022 with the highest rate of violent deaths in its history, registering 25.32 per 100,000 inhabitants, the vast majority associated, according to the Government, to organized crime and drug trafficking, which has gained strength on the coast and has turned to ports into large springboards for cocaine reaching Europe and North America.
Precisely, the fight against crime has been one of the main promises of the candidates who aspire to succeed the conservative Guillermo Lasso as president in the extraordinary general elections called for next Sunday, August 20.
The other candidates who registered in these elections in Ecuador
In addition to Villavicencio, the environmentalist Yaku Pérez, the correísta Luisa González, the security expert Jan Topic, the former vice president Otto Sonnenholzner, the politician Daniel Hervas, the businessman Daniel Noboa and the independent Bolívar Armijos had registered for the presidential elections.