Ecuador declares state of emergency following assassination of presidential candidate promoting anti-corruption
PBS NewsHourAPR 2023
Democracy is on the ballot in the upcoming Ecuadorian election, as the country desperately needs to tackle organized crime. If the nation refrains from electing candidates representing authoritarian ideas both from the right and the left, then Washington must ramp up security cooperation with Quito to show that lawful methods do work against violent drug gangs.
One must be disturbingly naive at best to believe that further US interference is what Ecuador needs after the killing of a presidential candidate who had long been a CIA asset. Though Villavicencio fabricated lies to boost the Russiagate invention and resolutely obstructed the impeachment of US-backed Guillermo Lasso, his candidacy had turned him into a liability for the Agency.