A seventh Colombian prisoner accused in the August assassination of Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has died behind bars, authorities in Quito said on Saturday, as top security officials were sacked.
Ecuador’s prison authority said in a statement that the Colombian who died in the capital’s El Inca prison — like the six killed on Friday in a prison in port city Guayaquil — was “linked” to the murder of presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Villavicencio.
Ecuadoran President Guillermo Lasso on Saturday announced a “reorganization” of the country’s police leadership, with the force’s general commander, investigations chief and prisons director removed from their posts.
Photo: AFP
Lasso’s office also said it would file a criminal complaint against the director of the Guayaquil prison, where the prisoners were said to have died amid “disturbances.”
“He has already been detained ... to give his version before the prosecutor’s office,” the president’s office said.
Authorities have not provided details on the inmate deaths, nor explained how the Quito prison failed to provide extra protection for the seventh suspect following Friday’s killings.
The assassination of Villavicencio, a centrist who had been polling in second place, rocked Ecuador days ahead of the Aug. 20 national elections in which corruption and the country’s declining security situation were major themes.
Six Colombians with long criminal records were arrested shortly after, while one was killed at the scene of the crime. Authorities arrested seven others days later.
The suspects’ deaths come just more than a week before Sunday’s election between frontrunner Luisa Gonzalez and challenger Daniel Noboa. The winner of the vote would succeed Lasso, who called snap polls to avoid possible impeachment for embezzlement.
Villavicencio had carried out scores of investigations, including exposing a vast graft network, which led to former Ecuadoran president Correa being sentenced to eight years in prison.
Correa fled the country to avoid jail time and has been living in exile in Belgium for six years.
Villavicencio had drawn the ire of gangs and drug traffickers with his reputation for speaking out against the cartels, many of which operate out of prisons across Ecuador.
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