Ecuador’s prosecutor’s office points to Los Lobos criminal gang behind Villavicencio’s murder

The Public Ministry Ecuador attacked a faction of the criminal gang The Wolves as the person allegedly responsible for the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 9, 2023, for which he accused six people at the trial preparatory hearing.

The Justice of Ecuador managed to set up the preparatory hearing for the trial on the fourth attempt, after three previous summonses that had to be postponed for various reasons, including the sudden change of lawyers for the defendants.

LOOK HERE: Ecuador: judge sends 15 suspected members of the Los Lobos gang to preventive detention

According to the Public Ministry, the order to kill Villavicencio came from Latacunga Prisonlocated in the Andean province of Cotopaxiabout 70 kilometers south of Quitoand controlled by The Wolves until a month and a half ago, when the Armed forces to regain control of the prison.

Specifically, according to the public ministrythe alleged direct author (with control of the fact) of Villavicencio’s murder is a prisoner identified as Carlos Edwin ALnicknamed ‘The invisible‘, identified by Ecuadorian authorities as leader of a faction of Los Lobos called ‘The Invisibles‘.

The Public Ministry’s accusation coincides with what was stated on February 7th by the Director of Investigations of the National Police from Ecuador, Freddy Sarzosaduring his appearance before the parliamentary committee investigating Villavicencio’s crime.

Sarzosa identified ‘El Invisible’ as “the main mentor”of the murder of Villavicencio and Laura Dayanara’s CV as coordinator.

Thus, the public ministry requested the opening of trial against Carlos Edwin AL as direct author, Laura Dayanara CV as co-author and Eric RP, Victor F., Alexandra Ch.F. It is Oscar FT as accomplices.

MORE INFORMATION: Authorities arrest suspect of planning attack on Ecuadorian prosecutor

The hearing was suspended after almost eight hours to continue on Wednesday with arguments from the defendants’ defense.

The six defendants in this preparatory hearing for the trial are the only survivors of the fourteen allegedly involved in the crime, as eight of them are dead, including the seven Colombian gunmen who participated in the execution of the attack.

One of them, the same one who shot Villavicencio, died at the scene of the crime as a result of shots fired by the security team accompanying the candidate, while the other six were hanged weeks later in the Coastal Penitentiarythe largest and most populous prison in Ecuador.

He was also found dead under similar circumstances in a prison in Quito another of those involved in the investigations.

Fernando Villavicencio He died on August 9, 2023, when he was shot dead leaving an electoral rally in Quito, when there were just eleven days until the first round of extraordinary general elections.

SEE TOO: Ecuador: Military claims to have taken control of prisons belonging to criminal gangs

Although videos initially circulated on social media of groups of hooded armed men claiming the murder of Villavicencio in the name of Los Lobos, there were also other videos to the contrary, while days before the murder Villavicencio had reported death threats coming from allegedly the drug trafficker. José Adolfo Macías ‘Fito’criminal gang leader The Choneros.

Villavicencio’s murder raised to unprecedented levels the growing wave of violence that has been plaguing Ecuador for around three years, with mafias from organized crime it’s from drug trafficking which skyrocketed the homicide rate to make the country one of the most violent in the world. Latin Americawith 45 homicides per 100 thousand inhabitants in 2023.

Since the beginning of January, both Los Lobos and twenty-one other criminal gangs have been considered terrorist groups, within the declaration of “internal armed conflict” that the current president did, Daniel Noboaagainst organized crime.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.