You know, in a port city of Manta, the mayor was assassinated late last month. It's still unclear, you know, who prompted this, but recently, you know, similar assassinations have taken place, targeting political leaders. But he had said as recently as last week that he had received multiple death threats from - in less than 48 hours - that claimed to be from a leader or at least someone with ties to a leader of one of the most powerful drug trafficking groups in Ecuador, a local gang known as Los Choneros. MCCAMMON: So what could be a motive for his killing? And he had talked a lot about the death threats he had received in reaction to these comments he's made. And in recent weeks, during his campaign, he had been speaking out fiercely against drug trafficking that has consumed this country.
And he had really spoken out about corruption over the years. He had also been an outspoken critic of the former president, Rafael Correa. SCHMIDT: Yeah, he had been in the National Assembly since 2017 until earlier this year when the Assembly was dissolved by the president. MCCAMMON: And as we said, Villavicencio served in Ecuador's National Assembly. And it quickly stunned this country and shook up the election cycle just days before - less than two weeks before the presidential elections. He was rushed to a nearby clinic and was pronounced dead. Fernando Villavicencio was walking out of a political rally at a high school in northern Quito last night when he was shot in the head several times as he was surrounded by security guards and getting into a car, which was not armored. MCCAMMON: So, first of all, just tell us what happened last night. Samantha Schmidt joins us now from neighboring Colombia, where she's the Bogota bureau chief for The Washington Post. Villavicencio had made strong allegations of links between organized crime and corrupt state officials. Fifty-nine-year-old Fernando Villavicencio had served as Ecuador's National Assembly and was among the candidates in the presidential election set for later this month.
It happened last night as he was leaving a campaign rally in the northern city of Quito. In Ecuador, a presidential candidate has been assassinated.
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