Ecuador presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio shot dead after election campaign

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot dead after holding an election campaign in Quito on August 9 evening, sources said.

Villavicencio’s death was confirmed by President Guillermo Lasso who in a statement on Twitter, renamed X, said that “this crime will not go unpunished”.

The 59-year old was one of the eight candidates who were contesting for the presidential elections scheduled for August 20.

President Lasso summoned his top security officials for an urgent meeting following Villavicencio’s death. Lasso said that the incident “shocked the entire country”.

“Organized crime has gone too far, but the full weight of the law will be applied to them”, Lasso said in his post.

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