Two Suspects Kill Ecuadorean Presidential Candidate | outside

According to the newspaper, the two Colombians, who had previously been arrested for “profiting from another crime”, were not allowed to leave the Andean country and had to report to the police several times a week. However, they did not follow those instructions and were therefore considered deserters for some time.

Shortly after the murder of Villavicencio last Wednesday, the Ecuadorean judiciary arrested six suspects. The Ecuadorean authorities confirmed that at least two of them had Colombian citizenship. Other media outlets, including the American New York Times, have previously reported that all the suspects are Colombians. During house searches after the killings, the Ecuadorian National Police found and confiscated firearms and grenades.

The six accused were presented on Thursday evening, and are being held in pre-trial detention, according to El Universo newspaper.

A seventh suspect, believed to be the gunman who shot the presidential candidate three times in the head, was killed moments after the assassination when he was shot by police officers guarding the 59-year-old Villavicencio during a campaign rally he was attending in the capital, Quito. the time of his death.

An hour after the X assassination, Villavicencio’s Movimento Constroi party, formerly known as Twitter, reported that their campaign headquarters in Quito had been “attacked by gunmen.” The circumstances of this attack are not clear and no further details have been revealed.

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso announced on Thursday that the elections and campaign will continue as planned, including an important debate between the various candidates. This is despite threats to the other candidates from the Los Lobos criminal cartel, which circulated a video clip on social media a few hours after Villavicencio’s murder.