Ecuador: Police Rule Out Alleged Attack Against Verónica Saraúz, Widow Of Fernando Villavicencio

Former presidential candidate Christian Zurita, who assumed the candidacy of the murdered Fernando Villavicencio, denounced this Wednesday an alleged attempted attack against the widow of the former assemblyman, Verónica Sarauz, something that was ruled out by the National Police.

In a message published on social networks, Zurita stated that Sarauz "has just suffered an attack, his security capsule detained a Venezuelan citizen on a motorcycle and with a firearm who tried to attack the car in which he was traveling."

Minutes later, the Ecuadorian Police also noted on social networks that, "given the information circulating on social networks about the alleged attack against Verónica S., it is an isolated procedure, according to preliminary information."

The state security body indicated that in this procedure "a foreign citizen was apprehended, who was riding a motorcycle in a suspicious attitude and carrying a blank weapon," a fact about which "investigations are ongoing."

According to local media, Sarauz had allegedly received threats in recent days.

Background: the murder of Fernando Villavicencio

Villavicencio was assassinated on August 9 at the exit of a rally in Quito, when there were just eleven days left until the first round of the extraordinary elections were held, an event that shocked the country and raised the crisis of violence that the country is experiencing.

The murder of Villavicencio, perpetrated by a group of hitmen from Colombia, was a turning point in the electoral campaign, from which Correísta Luisa González and businessman Daniel Noboa ended up in the second round, while Zurita came in third place.

Read also: The difference Is Narrowing: This Is The Current Panorama Of The Ecuador Elections

The electoral process is taking place under the largest insecurity crisis in the country's history, caused largely by organized crime, which has turned Ecuador into a key point of global cocaine trafficking, so that in the last five years intentional homicides have increased from 5.8 to 25.32 per 100,000 inhabitants.