Six suspects in assassination of Ecuador candidate are found dead in prison cell

Alleged assassins found dead in notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil

Six Colombians suspected of assassinating Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio have been found dead in prison, officials said.

The six men were slain after an “event” inside the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil on Friday, the attorney general’s office said.

No further details have been released about the circumstances of their deaths.

Villavicencio, a prominent journalist, was gunned down on 9 August while leaving a political rally in Quito, 11 days before the Ecuadorean general election.

The long shot candidate had reported receiving death threats from Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the several organised crime groups which have caused surging crime rates in the country.

The alleged assassins were arrested hours after the shooting and had been kept in preventive detention.

Prison officials identified the men as Jhon Gregore R., Andrés Manuel M., Adey Fernando G., Camilo Andrés R., Sules Osmini C. and José Neyder L.

#ATENCIÓN | #Guayas: personal de #FiscalíaEc, @PoliciaNacional y @FFAAECUADOR ejecutan los protocolos de seguridad en la Penitenciaria del Litoral de #Guayaquil, ante los disturbios suscitados la tarde de este viernes. pic.twitter.com/laLXFVCSDt

— Fiscalía Ecuador (@FiscaliaEcuador) October 7, 2023

The deaths came as Ecuador’s national prosecutor’s office had reportedly been close to finishing an investigation into Villavicencio’s murder.

In a statement to X/Twitter, the attorney general’s office said “specialised security personnel” had carried out an operation at the prison in response to “disturbances” on Friday.

In an update, officials said the bodies of six prisoners had been removed and were being taken for autopsies to determine their cause of death.

Soldiers secure an area before the arrival of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Daniel Noboa, who was taking part in a rally on Friday ahead of the October 15 run-off (REUTERS)

President Guillermo Lasso condemned the killings and said there would be “neither complicity nor cover-up” in getting to the bottom of the crime.

“Here the truth will be known,” he said in a post on X.

Mr Lasso said he was cutting short a trip to South Korea “due to the crisis in the prison system”.

Litoral is the largest prison in Ecuador and has seen several deadly riots in recent years.

Ecuador is holding a runoff presidential election on 15 October with the two top candidates from the August elections Luisa González and former lawmaker Daniel Noboa.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams visited Ecuador on Friday to hold meetings with local leaders about the migrant crisis.