The Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot dead as he left a campaign event in Quito, days before an election where the central issue is the rise violence and crime.

Videos on social media show Villavicencio, a former journalist who had collaborated with the Guardian and was outspoken about alleged links between organised crime and politics, surrounded by supporters and being escorted by security guards to a waiting vehicle when gunshots ring out as people start to scream and take cover.

ECUADOR-CRIME-DRUG TRAFFICKING-DEATH
Handout frame grab from CCTV video footage in Esmeraldas' Artisanal Fishing Port showing people running after armed men fired on the port in Esmeraldas, Ecuador on April 11, 2023. - Nine people were killed this Tuesday in Ecuador by some thirty armed attackers who arrived in boats and cars at a port for artisanal fishermen in the northern province of Esmeraldas, on the border with Colombia, authorities reported. (Photo by Handout / Security camera in Esmeraldas' Artisanal Fishing Port / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / SECURITY CAMERA IN ESMERALDAS' ARTISANAL FISHING PORT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS (Photo by HANDOUT/Security camera in Esmeraldas' A/AFP via Getty Images)
Ecuador’s criminal gangs bring death and mayhem amid political gridlock
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In a televised address made after midnight, the country’s president, Guillermo Lasso, said the elections would continue as planned, though under a two-month state of emergency in which soldiers would guard polling stations.

Flanked by cabinet members and electoral authorities, he said: “We agree in the face of the loss of a patriot and a fighter, elections should not be suspended; on the contrary, they should be held and democracy should be strengthened.”