QUITO: A local politician in Ecuador has been killed less than a week after a presidential candidate was shot dead during an election rally, western media reported on Tuesday.
Party officials told AFP that Pedro Briones, a member of the Citizen Revolution Party of former president Rafael Correa, was killed on Monday.
Luisa Gonzalez, a presidential candidate, said the slain politician was one of the movement’s leaders in the province of Esmeraldas on the border with Colombia.
In a statement on X, previously Twitter, she expressed sympathies with the family of Pedro Briones, a new victim of violence.
She said Ecuador is passing through its bloodiest period. She demanded the government to take action against organized crime gangs.
Ecuador under state of emergency following pollical assassinations
The government and police have not confirmed the attack but the local media reported that Rafael Correa was shot at his home in the town of San Mateo by two men on a motorcycle who later fled.
The murder came less than a week after the killing of a prominent presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 9, in Quito.
The slain politician had promised to renegotiate agreements with foreign oil and mining companies and to take a hard line against the drug groups behind a surge in violence.
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He became a household name in Ecuador during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa, when he exposed corruption scandals.
After the incident, President Guillermo Lasso announced an emergency in the country for a period of two months. He also declared three days of mourning over the tragic incident.
The police have arrested six Colombians in connection with the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio by his bodyguards.
