Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated at campaign event
ITV News' David Harper has the latest on the assassination
A presidential candidate in Ecuador has been shot and killed during a political rally in the country's capital.
Fernando Villavicencio was known for speaking up against cartels and corruption, and Ecuador's President Guillermo Lasso has suggested organised crime was behind his assassination.
One suspect died in custody from wounds sustained in a firefight after the shooting, and police detained six suspects following raids in Quito.
"I assure you that this crime will not go unpunished," President Lasso said in a statement. "Organized crime has gone too far, but they will feel the full weight of the law."
Ecuador goes to the polls on August 20 for the presidential election.
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."
Villavicencio had spoken openly about having 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 before his assassination.
The 59-year-old was one of eight candidates, though not the front-runner, and was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement.
As drug traffickers have begun to use the country’s coastal ports, Ecuadorians have reeled from violence not seen for decades.
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."
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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.
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 one of the country's most critical voices against corruption, especially during the 2007-2017 government of President Rafael Correa.
He was also an independent journalist who investigated corruption in previous governments, later entering politics as an anti-graft campaigner.
He was married with five children.