Fernando Villavicencio, the Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassinated as he left a campaign event, was not the frontrunner in the upcoming elections, but he had won support for his tough-on-crime and anti-graft platform.
His slogan was “Es tiempo de valientes” – It’s time for the brave.
Few doubted his courage even if they did not agree with him. His past as a combative investigative journalist had earned him effusive supporters – but also powerful enemies.
Villavicencio, 59, did not have a long career as an elected politician, but he had an extensive track record in the public sphere for his investigative journalism and as a fearless whistleblower of corruption.
It was his vehement criticism of former president Rafael Correa, a leftist populist with an authoritarian streak who governed Ecuador from 2007 to 2017, that made him a recognisable figure in Ecuador.
Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated
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One of his investigations uncovered an alleged bribery scheme that put Correa and high-ranking government officials on the ropes. Correa was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison in 2020 but was already living in exile in Belgium, where his wife is from.
By then, Villavicencio had already been forced to go underground after he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defaming Correa. The journalist fled to the Indigenous territory of Sarayaku in Ecuadorian Amazon in 2014, where he continued to make accusations against...
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