Ecuador has experienced the assassination of a local party leader, the second politician to be killed in a week.
In the northern Esmeraldas province, Pedro Briones was assassinated by gunmen on motorcycles at his residence.
Just five days had passed since the capital of Quito saw the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
As local gangs formed partnerships with foreign crime cartels, Ecuador’s murder rate has increased.
Prior to the snap presidential elections on August 20, the killings of politicians have shook the country.
Left-leaning Citizen Revolution Party was led by Mr. Briones in Esmeraldas. The party’s members sent their condolences to Mr Briones’ family.
Luisa González, the party’s presidential candidate, claimed that Ecuador was living through “its bloodiest period”.
The Citizen Revolution Party was started by former president Rafael Correa, who wrote: “They murdered another of our colleagues in Esmeraldas. Enough is enough!”
Police have not yet released any official statements regarding the murder, but according to local media, the two assailants who killed Mr. Briones in San Mateo, a city south of Esmeraldas, fled on a motorcycle.
What the potential motivation might have been is still a mystery.
One of the worst affected provinces by the wave of violence that has swept the nation is Esmeraldas, which borders Colombia.
The province is attractive to drug traffickers who move cocaine from Colombia through Ecuador to the US and Europe because of its porous border with Colombia and its location on the Pacific coast.
Source-BBC
