The Citizens’ Revolution movement, led by former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa (2007-2017), condemned the killing of Pedro Briones on Monday. Briones was a local party leader in the parish of San Mateo in the northern province of Esmeraldas, on the Colombian border.
Janet Bustos, director of Citizen Revolution in Esmeraldas, was the one who took to social media to condemn Briony’s murder. His assassination took place five days after the presidential candidate of the Constructivist movement, Fernando Villavicencio, was killed. The candidate was shot by suspected Colombian assassins as he left a rally in Quito.
“They killed another of our colleagues in Esmeraldas. It’s enough!” – asserts the former President Correa on the social network.
“The killer’s bullet ended his life,” said former Esmeralda governor Paola Cabezas, who recalled that a wave of insecurity and violence engulfing Ecuador had claimed the lives of several politicians, including several citizens, in recent months. revolution.
Before Villavicencio, other politicians and candidates were also similarly assassinated, such as Manta Mayor Agustin Intriago and Esmeraldas Ryder Sanchez assembly candidate from the Actuemos alliance led by former Vice President Otto Sonnenholzner. It happened in July.
The assassination of Puerto López mayoral candidate Omar Menendez, which occurred just one day after the municipal government’s February 5 vote, also had a major impact.
The candidate of the Citizens’ Revolution for the presidency of Ecuador, Luisa González, assured that “Ecuador is living in the bloodiest time”. González blames the current government of conservative president Guillermo Lasso and the “state taken over by the mafia” for this situation.
The series of killings is part of a surge in violence in Ecuador, which ended last year with 25.32 murders per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in its history.
The government attributes this phenomenon to organized crime and drug trafficking, which has grown particularly in Ecuador’s coastal zone, where they have turned Ecuador’s ports into major transportation vehicles for the delivery of cocaine to the United States and Latin America.
Source: El Diario
