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Six Colombians suspected of assassinating Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been murdered in prison, in the latest sign of the violence roiling the country as it prepares to elect a new president.
The public prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into the country’s prisons agency over the massacre, while Colombia’s government condemned the killings and pledged support for the investigation.
Prison authorities said the murders took place on Friday night in the notorious Litoral prison in Guayaquil, which has been the site of numerous massacres in recent years as drug-gangs jostle for control of different wings. In September 2021, a riot there left at least 123 inmates dead.
Authorities released the names of the six murdered suspects, all Colombian nationals, but did not provide any more details.
Ecuadoreans are preparing to head to the polls in the run-off presidential election on October 15, which is being contested by centre-right businessman Daniel Noboa and leftist Luisa González, a protégé of former president Rafael Correa.
Crime has consistently polled as the most important issue for voters. Once considered relatively peaceful, Ecuador has become one of the most violent countries in South America as local and international drug cartels fight over trafficking routes.
In the first six months of the year, 3,500 homicides were reported in the country which has a population of 18mn, according to police statistics. Last year, 4,800 people were murdered, almost double the rate in 2021 and quadruple that of 2018.
The per capita murder rate surpasses that of Colombia and Mexico.
Ecuador has also seen rising political violence. The mayor of port city Manta was murdered in July, while a political organiser was shot dead in the coastal province of Esmeraldas in August.
Villavicencio was gunned down on August 9 while leaving a rally in Quito, less than two weeks before the first round of voting. His killing shocked a nation already reeling from violence.
The former investigative journalist had promised a tough line on drug traffickers and their links with government officials.
Police arrested the six Colombians that day, while a seventh suspect, also Colombian, was killed in a firefight with police.
Last week the US announced a reward of up to $5mn for information leading to the arrest or conviction of the “co-conspirators and masterminds” responsible for Villavicencio’s murder. The FBI is assisting with the investigation.
President Guillermo Lasso, who is not seeking re-election, cancelled a planned visit to South Korea in response to the prison murders, and on Saturday met with his security cabinet to address the violence in the country’s prisons.
“Neither complicity nor cover-up, the truth will be known here,” he posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
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