Five people found guilty of the high-profile murder of 2023 presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been sentenced by an Ecuadorian court, Cuenca High Life reports on July 18.
However, journalists noted that it remains unclear who ordered the killing and why.
Fernando Villavicencio was campaigning in July 2023, just days before his murder.
On July 12, a court in Pichincha sentenced the alleged leader of the Lobos faction, Carlos Edwin Angulo, nicknamed “El Invisible,” to 34 years in prison for organizing the murder from his cell. Laura Dayanara Castillo, the accomplice responsible for financing and coordinating the murder, received the same prison sentence, while three other accomplices received 12 years each.
Villavicencio, an investigative journalist turned presidential candidate, was shot dead in broad daylight at a campaign rally in August 2023. The killer, an 18-year-old Colombian from a poor neighborhood in the southwestern city of Cali, was shot dead by police at the scene of the crime. Authorities later discovered messages on his phone that led to the arrest of 13 other people in connection with the murder.
Two months later, in a disturbing turn of events, six Colombians and one Ecuadorian convicted of Villavicencio’s murder were killed in prison, calling into question Ecuador’s ability to deliver justice in one of the country’s most high-profile cases.
Despite the conviction of several people responsible for the political murder, which made headlines around the world and showed how dire the security situation in Ecuador has become, the State appears to have failed to expose the perpetrators or the motives behind the murder.
Source: Rossa Primavera
I am Michael Melvin, an experienced news writer with a passion for uncovering stories and bringing them to the public. I have been working in the news industry for over five years now, and my work has been published on multiple websites. As an author at 24 News Reporters, I cover world section of current events stories that are both informative and captivating to read.