Ecuador declares state of emergency after political assassination; president 'invites' US FBI to 'investigate'

Ecuador today declared a state of emergency after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated while holding a political rally in the capital city of Quito.

Villavicencio was a journalist and member of the Ecuador Legislative Assembly for the Honesty Alliance Party until last May, when he ran as presidential candidate for the August 20th elections along with seven other candidates, coming in fourth in the polls. He campaigned on a platform of fighting corruption in oil, mining, electricity, telecommunications, and fighting organized crime.

Some rights suspended during the state of emergency include:

• The right to inviolability of one’s home;
• The right to the inviolability of one’s correspondence;
• Police may conduct searches without warrant;
• Within the framework of their powers, local governments must support and coordinate actions “to guarantee citizen security.”

Villavicencio gained recognition for exposing “Correism” – Former President Rafael Correa-style socialism – when he exposed in one of his journalistic investigations a bribery network developed by the former president, getting Correa accused of aggravated bribery and sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison and 25 years of disqualification from holding public office.

In his constant provoking and baiting the mafia, he repeated over and over again: "I'm not afraid of them, let them come, I'm here, I'm not afraid of death." In recent days Villavicencio mentioned threats by one 'Fito', the leader of the criminal 'Los Choneros' organization. The threats were made against him and his campaign team if he continued. Villavicencio responded: "This confirms that indeed our campaign proposal seriously affects these criminal structures, and here I’m showing my face, I’m not afraid of them.”

For his part, current President Guillermo Lasso addressed a speech to the nation condemning the assassination and signing the state of emergency and national mourning decrees, calling the incident a "political crime that acquires a terrorist character," paraphrasing the late candidate by saying: "No, we're not going to hand over power and democratic institutions to organized crime, even if they’re disguised as political organizations.”

Lasso announced having invited the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate the assassination: “I have requested support from the FBI for the investigation of the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio Valencia. The US Federal Investigation and Intelligence Agency accepted our request and in the next few hours a delegation will arrive in the country.”

FBI personnel abroad serve under the authority of the Department of State, chief of mission at United States embassies, at the pleasure of ambassadors and host country governments, according to the FBI website.

Ecuadorian attorney William Sánchez Aveiga told Frontline News that he believes there is a goal to propel the country into a state of perpetual martial law: “None of the candidates, absolutely none, speaks or has spoken about Agenda 2030. It’s as if the agenda didn’t exist. They definitely ignore it. Perhaps some of them know little about it, some a lot, and are compromised.”

He continued: "I think this is very suspicions. It's quite clear to me that the final objective is to militarize the country. There are two elements that have to exist to subdue the country:

"One is to change the constitution in order to tear down the regulations that protect citizens - that give us the power to sue, to have access to public information - and the other is to subjugate the country through fear by militarizing it. The people themselves, just like with the vaccines, are demanding it. It’s not something that might happen in future, they're already doing it.

"The country itself, the people themselves are asking for the army. Once the army's in, it will happen just like with the vaccine - people were in great panic because of the purported virus and begged for the vaccine. Without knowing what they were asking for, like a child who asks his father for a chocolate without knowing that it’s poisoned. 

"Likewise, our ignorant, misguided people - because the Health Ministry never bothered to tell them the truth - they only told them: “Stay home, wash your hands, wear a mask, and keep your distance.” Those four things were the only thing they said. They never explained to the people what a virus is, what a bacteria is, how the mask works. Nothing. Nothing, because they didn’t care. The only thing they care about is that people stay ignorant.

“So, their objective is there, and what's coming is clear. There could be many motives for assassinating this man. But the real goal is for the country to be militarized to be able to subdue the population.”