Once nicknamed “the island of peace”, Ecuador has become a hub of drug trafficking and violence in recent years as local gangs and international cartels have forged a new route for cocaine into Europe.
According to local media, Mr Villavicencio, a former journalist and lawmaker who had vowed to fight corruption and drug crime, was shot three times in the head in an attack described as “hit-man style”.
“A suspect, who was injured during the shootout with security personnel, was apprehended and moved, badly injured, to the (attorney general’s) unit in Quito,” the attorney general’s office said.
According to local media, Mr Villavicencio, a former journalist and lawmaker who had vowed to fight corruption and drug crime, was shot three times in the head in an attack described as “hit-man style”.
“A suspect, who was injured during the shootout with security personnel, was apprehended and moved, badly injured, to the (attorney general’s) unit in Quito,” the attorney general’s office said.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated at campaign event
President Guillermo Lasso says he is 'outraged and shocked' and vows crime will not go unpunished
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