Police guard the hospital the place a number of of the injured have been taken after an assault in opposition to presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday.

Juan Diego Montenegro/AP

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Juan Diego Montenegro/AP

Police guard the hospital the place a number of of the injured have been taken after an assault in opposition to presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito, Ecuador, on Wednesday.

Juan Diego Montenegro/AP

QUITO, Ecuador — An Ecuadorian presidential candidate recognized for talking up in opposition to corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally within the capital, an assault that comes amid a wave of startling violence within the South American nation.

President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and prompt organized crime was behind his slaying.

Villavicencio was one in all eight candidates within the Aug. 20 presidential vote, although not the frontrunner.

“I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished,” Lasso stated in an announcement. “Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law.”

The killing comes as Ecuador is rattled by rising violent killings and drug trafficking.

Videos on social media seem to indicate the candidate strolling out of the occasion surrounded by guards. The video then reveals Villavicencio coming into a white truck adopted by gunfire.

The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.

Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencio’s marketing campaign adviser, informed the Associated Press the candidate had acquired demise threats earlier than the taking pictures, which he had reported to authorities. He referred to as on worldwide authorities to take motion in opposition to the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking.

“The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded,” he stated. “Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society.”

Other candidates echoed Zuquilanda of their calls for for motion, with former vp Otto Sonnenholzner saying in a information convention, “We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live line this. We demand that you do something”.

Villavicencio was one of the vital vital voices in opposition to corruption, particularly throughout the federal government of former President Rafael Correa from 2007 to 2017. He filed many judicial complaints in opposition to excessive rating members of the Correa authorities, together with in opposition to the ex-president himself.

Early accounts present that a number of others have been injured within the assault, although authorities didn’t affirm what number of.

He was married and is survived by 5 youngsters.