Ecuadorian armed forces together with police officers during an operation in Guayaquil (Ecuador) Marcos Pin (EFE)
Fear accompanies candidates for mayor and mayor in Ecuador’s February 5 statute, the most violent the South American country has ever seen. Since the registration of candidacies in August 2022, there have been 12 attacks against candidates for mayor and prefecture. In one instance, they killed one of the candidates, Gerardo Delgado, a popular communicator profiled by former President Rafael Correa’s Citizen Revolution movement. The others were shot, stabbed, their vehicles blown up, explosives thrown into their homes, their relatives or close associates killed. In some cases, attacks against someone were repeated.
Richard Firmat made it out alive after two people opened fire on him while he was in his vehicle following a political rally in the town of Arrecho, rural area of Simón Bolívar canton, on the Ecuadorian coast where he is located. running for mayor. “I do tours. I leave a triptych for people and a treasure for them to read my suggestions,” he says.
He did so on January 9 while driving his truck on a dirt road when two men started shooting at him, “two bullets hit my left arm and I lost control,” says the candidate. “I just accelerated as one of my companions took over the wheel of the car and we managed to get out, although the gunmen kept firing as we drove off.”
Simón Bolívar is a canton in Guayas province, the most violent in the country, where thousands of violent crimes take place. In 2022, 2,000 murders were recorded. In rural areas like Simón Bolívar, organized crime gangs extort people and the vast countryside is often used as a secret landing strip for drug planes. It is a hot area with only 30,000 inhabitants and just over 20,000 votes.
The candidate’s other three companions were unharmed and helped him make a tourniquet on his campaign shirt as the bullet hit an artery. “I don’t know who doesn’t want me in the race, but I have lodged a complaint with the police to investigate,” says Firmat. So far no arrests have been made and he has not been placed in police custody.
This is the latest assault in a violent by-election and the shadow of drug trafficking meddling in Ecuadorian politics. President Guillermo Lasso assured that “there are candidates who have been dismissed as advisers to members of the Congregation for alleged links to drug trafficking” and offered to make public the evidence “found by intelligence operations”, but that was a month ago and the evidence was not announced.
For example, if the evidence is provided, the National Electoral Council will not be able to verify where money is coming from to fund high-profile campaigns, top official Diana Atamaint says. “It’s a post-election audit, as soon as the campaign bills and revenues come in we analyze them and if the numbers don’t add up we report them to the prosecution,” he explains.
In this scenario, the February 5 elections will elect 5,567 bureaus in Ecuador amid uncertainty that violence could escalate to constituencies or even attack the facilities where the data centers will be located. You will receive the information from the voting registration. According to the National Electoral Council, a security protocol is being finalized to respond to the current context of violence that could disrupt the electoral process, something Ecuadorians have never experienced before.
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
