An Ecuadorian presidential candidate known for speaking up against cartels and corruption was shot and killed Wednesday at a political rally in the capital.
President Guillermo Lasso confirmed the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio and suggested organized crime was behind his slaying.
It is less than two weeks before the August 20 presidential election.
"I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," Lasso said in a statement. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law."
Ecuador's attorney general's office said that one suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the killing, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito.
In his final speech before he was killed, Villavicencio promised a roaring crowd that he would root out corruption and lock up the country's "thieves."
Prior to the shooting, Villavicencio said he had received multiple death threats, including from affiliates of Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador.
He said his campaign represented a threat to such groups.
"Here I am showing my face. I'm not scared of them," Villavicencio said in a statement, naming detained crime boss José Adolfo Macías by his alias "Fito."
Villavicencio was one of eight candidates, though not the frontrunner. The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.
Supporter Ida Paez said that Villavicencio's campaign had given her hope that the country could overcome the gangs. At the rally, she said, "We were happy. Fernando even danced. His last words were, if someone messes with the people, he is messing with my family."
Former vice president and candidate Otto Sonnenholzner said in a news conference following Wednesday's killing, "We are dying, drowning in a sea of tears and we do not deserve to live like this. We demand that you do something."
Videos of the rally on social media appear to show Villavicencio walking out of the event surrounded by guards.
The video then shows the candidate getting into a white pickup truck before gunshots are heard, followed by screams and commotion around the truck. This sequence of events was confirmed to The Associated Press by Patricio Zuquilanda, Villavicencio's campaign adviser.
Zuquilanda said the candidate had received at least three death threats before the shooting, which he had reported to authorities, resulting in one detention. He called on international authorities to take action against the violence, attributing it to rising violence and drug trafficking.
"The Ecuadorian people are crying and Ecuador is mortally wounded," he said. "Politics cannot lead to the death of any member of society."
Villavicencio was married and is survived by five children.
