$200,000 paid to kill presidential candidate in Ecuador

Quito. A protected witness declared on Tuesday that 200 thousand {dollars} have been paid for the homicide of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and that the prison operation that ended the politician’s life was organized by the gang of The Wolvesthought of by authorities to be the most important drug trafficking group within the nation.

On the primary day of the trial in opposition to these allegedly answerable for the homicide of Villavicencio in August of final 12 months, days earlier than the elections, the spotlight was the testimony of a protected witness, recognized by the prosecution as José Patricio AM, who asserted that he participated within the preliminary planning of the homicide however that he refused to be a part of the execution.

Law enforcement officials who intervened instantly after the crime additionally appeared.

Based on the prosecution in a message on X, previously Twitter, the witness mentioned that a kind of concerned —José M. alias the Remedywho was murdered in jail after being arrested—confessed through the planning of the crime that “that head (of Villavicencio) was value 200 thousand {dollars} and the federal government of Rafael C. (Correa) ordered him to do it (kill).”

The Public Prosecutor’s Workplace has not but reported any open traces of investigation in opposition to the previous Ecuadorian president or his collaborators on this case.

Authorities haven’t but recognized the masterminds behind the homicide of Villavicencio, who had denounced hyperlinks between politics and organised crime. He had additionally claimed to have obtained threats from prison teams.

The identical witness mentioned that the Los Lobos prison gang, thought of by the USA as “the most important drug trafficking group in Ecuador” that “considerably contributes to the violence that plagues the nation” in a latest assertion, organized Villavicencio’s homicide.

He talked about that those that needed to kill him believed that “if he grew to become president, he would change the outcomes of medication and alter the penal codes.”

Villavicencio was shot useless on August 9 final 12 months as he left an electoral rally in Quito, days earlier than the primary spherical of elections, which was received by the present president Daniel Noboa, in a criminal offense that shook the nation.

The 59-year-old politician was additionally a member of the legislature and a widely known determine for having denounced varied instances of corruption that led to the imprisonment of ministers and different high-ranking officers.

A month after the crime, seven of the 13 detainees have been murdered inside prisons in Guayaquil and Quito, the place they have been being held in preventive detention.

Household and pals of the politician held protests in entrance of the Courtroom to demand speedy judicial proceedings.

The prosecution additionally reported in X that the witness identified that the particular person answerable for organizing the workforce of gunmen was the alleged chief of the prison group Los Lobos, recognized as Carlos L. alias “Invisible,” who was imprisoned in a jail in Latacunga, within the central Andean a part of the nation.

13 different folks have been injured by bullets within the assault.

Amongst these on trial for the homicide of Villavicencio are Carlos Angulo, one of many leaders of Los Lobos, who the prosecution accuses of coordinating the crime, in addition to Laura Castillo, accused of being a co-author for offering the gunmen with autos, weapons and cash, and three different folks recognized as accomplices.

If discovered responsible, the defendants might obtain a sentence of between 22 and 26 years in jail.

Based on the prosecution’s thesis, Angulo, as chief of a faction of the prison group working within the south of the capital, was the organizer of the crime, which was recorded in messages despatched to cell telephones.

“Listening to the specialists’ account of the post-mortem and the trajectory of the bullet could be very highly effective, however we should give attention to what’s vital and uncover the masterminds behind Fernando’s loss of life,” Verónica Sarauz, Villavicencio’s widow, instructed AP.

He added that “for the nice of society and the nation, we hope that the Prosecutor’s Workplace does its job nicely and finds these accountable.”

A robust police guard was put in early within the morning outdoors and within the corridors resulting in the Nationwide Courtroom of Justice, rigorously checking each particular person getting into the premises.

Villavicencio was certainly one of eight candidates registered for the presidential race in August however was not among the many favorites.