Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. Photo: Al Jazeera.
After at least seven people involved in the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were executed in prison, the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) of Ecuador reported having the testimony of a witness. Former President Rafael Correa described the testimony as part of a maneuver to frame him.
The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement on October 8 announcing that it collected the testimony of a witness of the execution of Fernando Villavicencio. This person “under oath described, among other things, the preparations and accounts offered by the intellectual authors” of the murder of the presidential candidate Villavicencio on August 9, ahead of the first round of the elections, held on Sunday the 20th of that month.
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Prior to the issuance of the statement, former president Rafael Correa—political leader of the Citizen’s Revolution Movement, which could lead candidate Luisa González to the presidency of Ecuador if she wins the October 15 runoff—indicated that the testimony of the person mentioned by the Prosecutor’s Office is set to accuse him of the murder of Villavicencio. Correa described the alleged testimony as a “false positive.”
🇪🇨🇪🇨🇪🇨
Atenti Ecuador.
Nos informan esto👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/wIaiiq3lAA— Rafael Correa (@MashiRafael) October 9, 2023
“… They assassinate Villavicencio. They delay the preliminary investigation for a month. They kill all the hitmen except one, whom they have in a military barracks, and they make him accuse us on October 10, five days before the elections,” said Correa in response FGE statement. “Anything in order to prevent our victory.”
The day before, the Ecuadorian National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI) reported that six people involved in the Villavicencio crime were killed, presumably by other inmates, in a prison in Guayaquil. Hours afterwards, a seventh individual implicated in the murder of Villavicencio was killed in a prison in Quito.
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The episode led to President Guillermo Lasso calling an emergency meeting of the security cabinet and canceling a visit to South Korea to discuss a free trade agreement with Seoul.
This is not the first time that Correa has faced the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office. In 2019, the agency accused the former president of operating a bribery scheme involving several multinational companies, including the scandalous Brazilian firm Odebrecht, while serving as president of Ecuador.
The process, known as the “bribery case,” and which led to a ruling against him, hindered the former president’s intentions to run for the vice presidency in 2021.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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