Fernando Villavicencio: These Are the Denunciations He Made Before Being Assassinated in Ecuador

This Wednesday, August 9, 2023, just ten days before the presidential elections that had to be anticipated, one of the candidates for office in Ecuador was assassinated. This is the activist and ex-assembly member Fernando Villavicencio. When leaving a campaign event, Villavicencio was attacked with a firearm outside a school in the city of Quito.

His death was confirmed shortly after.

Who was Fernando Villavicencio?

The 59-year-old politician had been a member of the Legislative Assembly from 2021 until its dissolution this year. A journalist by profession, Villavicencio's work in politics was recognized for his denunciations of corruption and for dealing with drug trafficking, a phenomenon that has taken Ecuador over the last few years.

Before coming to the Legislative Assembly, Villavicencio had practiced investigative journalism, so he already had experience as a corruption whistleblower. As a journalist he published ten books. Later, he was also a union leader of the Federation of Oil Workers.

In fact, as an assemblyman, he stood out for promoting corruption investigations in the oil field. The most significant scandal was known as Petrochina, which denounced the Correa government's alleged debt to China as a corruption scheme. In addition, Villavicencio was director of the Anti-Corruption Parliamentary Front. He became, after his denunciations, a name of anticorreism.

During the impeachment trial of President Lasso, the Political Oversight and Control Commission headed by Villavicencio gave a favorable report on the then president.

Now, Villavicencio was a presidential candidate for the Construye Movement. A few weeks before his murder, he had denounced threats that he and other members of his campaign team had received.

What were the denunciations he made before being murdered?

As we have said before, one of Villavicencio's most important denunciations as an assembly member would have been the one known as Petrochina. However, this would not be the only one. Among his journalistic investigations is that of Arroz Verde, which opened the Sobornos case, for which former President Rafael Correa was sentenced. These are just a couple of his most famous complaints and investigations; both about the government of Rafael Correa. However, he also dedicated himself to denouncing corruption in subsequent governments: that of Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso.

More recently, Villavicencio had referred to the nation of Ecuador as a "narco-state." Violence as a result of drug trafficking has increased exponentially in recent years, especially in cities like Guayaquil. Among the candidate's proposals, then, were those of bringing the country's most wanted criminals to justice in a high-security prison and doing so against violence and crime.

Before being murdered, Villavicencio had declared in interviews that he and his team were the victims of threats from alias Fito, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang. This gang would be, according to the presidential candidate, connected with the Sinaloa Cartel and would also be responsible for the violent confrontations in the El Litoral and Guayaquil prisons.

Until now, not much is known about the perpetrators of his murder. The Prosecutor's Office affirmed yesterday that one was injured as a result of the crossing of bullets.