Fernando Villavicencio’s widow, Veronica Sarauz, has called her husband’s assassination a “state crime” and accused supporters of the left-wing former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa, a refugee in Belgium, of being directly responsible or indirect.
About 4,000 soldiers and agents, heavily armed, entered on Saturday at dawn in armored vehicles in the Center of deprivation of liberty number eight of Guayaquil (south-west) where Adolfo “Fito” Macias, head of the dreaded criminal organization “Los Choneros”.
Six Colombian nationals arrested
Images released by the security forces show a corpulent bearded man, hands on his head, surrounded by agents, then on the ground, hands tied and in his underwear among dozens of prisoners. Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso then announced on X (formerly Twitter) that “Fito” had been transferred to La Roca, a maximum security prison with 150 places, located in the same prison complex, in Guayaquil.
According to the authorities, “Fito” and his men controlled at least one building of the prison where he was previously detained. The name of “Fito” has been in the headlines in Ecuador since the death Wednesday of Fernando Villavicencio, shot dead. The 59-year-old centrist candidate was in second place in the polls ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for August 20.
Six Colombian nationals were arrested in this case, and a seventh was killed in a shootout with the candidate’s bodyguards. The politician had claimed last week that the leader of the gang, sentenced to 34 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking, had threatened to kill him.
A former journalist and member of Congress, Mr. Villavicencio had investigated drug trafficking in his country. Drug gangs are powerful in prisons across the country. Since 2021, more than 430 inmates have died in clashes between rival gangs in prison, with dozens having been dismembered and their bodies burned.
“State Crime”
The centrist Construye party announced on Saturday that Mr. Villavicencio’s running mate, Andrea Gonzalez, will be its presidential candidate. Ms. Gonzalez, a 36-year-old environmentalist, was a longtime ally of Mr. Villavicencio. She has devoted herself in particular to the defense of the oceans and the mangroves, to the fight against deforestation and the trafficking of wild animals.
The running mate of Mrs. Gonzalez, candidate for the vice-presidency, will be announced later and “he will be chosen among the most faithful of those who shared the fights of comrade Fernando Villavicencio,” the party said.
In statements to the press on Saturday in Quito, Mr. Villavicencio’s widow, Veronica Sarauz, attacked the Ecuadorian state and supporters of former President Correa (2007-2017). “It is a state crime because he was in the custody of the state through the police,” she denounced.
Villavicencio had filed a complaint
“I want to say to Correisme that I know it is them (…) the one who lives in Belgium, all are responsible, if not directly, at least indirectly, for the death of my husband”. One of Fernando Villavicencio’s main feats of arms is to have sent Rafael Correa to the dock, thanks to one of his journalistic investigations.
Mr. Correa, a refugee in Belgium, was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in this case. The day before his assassination, Mr. Villavicencio had filed a complaint with the Public Ministry for alleged irregularities in the renegotiation of oil contracts under the Correa administration, with a loss for the country of around 9 billion dollars.
Ms Sarauz, who appeared escorted by police and wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, claimed her life and that of her three children “are also in danger”.