DEVELOPING: Ecuadorian Right-Wing Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio Assassinated at Campaign Rally (VIDEO)

Ecuadorian right-wing Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated at a campaign rally on Wednesday.

Quedó grabado el Momento exacto en que matan a Fernando Villavicencio!! pic.twitter.com/7kpqUzwzQ4

According to local media reports, supporters of Fernando Villavicencio managed to capture a suspect after the assassination.

Simpatizantes de Fernando Villavicencio lograron capturar a un sospechoso del crimen al candidato. pic.twitter.com/juqh67WlYk

#URGENTE SICARIOS DISPARAN A FERNANDO VILLAVICENCIO A LA SALIDA DE UN MITIN COLEGIO ANDERSON EN QUITO pic.twitter.com/saiTeqKb7R

Momento del cruce de balas donde los sicarios finalmente acabaron con la vida del candidato a la presidencia, Fernando Villavicencio.

¡Ecuador se ha convertido en un campo de guerra!.#FernandoVillavicencio #sicariato #Ecuador pic.twitter.com/7h2IPgdfzH

First responders rushed Fernando Villavicencio into the emergency room but he didn’t survive.

BREAKING VIDEO: Medical staff and first responders rushing Ecuador Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio into the emergency room

The candidate for the presidency of Ecuador Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death this Wednesday afternoon after participating in a campaign event in Quito. The attack occurred in a school in the capital from which the applicant came. Villavicencio, whom most polls placed in fourth or fifth position among the opponents who will dispute the succession of Guillermo Lasso on August 20, presented himself as a battering ram against corruption under the slogan It’s time for the brave.

The 59-year-old politician was a member of the Assembly until its dissolution and chaired the audit commission. He was criticized for his actions in the impeachment process against Lasso, because that commission issued a report favorable to the president that did not have the support of other legislators. The attack occurs when there are 11 days to go before the elections in a country asphyxiated by an unprecedented crisis. During the campaign, the mayor of Manta, a key port for drug trafficking, and a candidate for the Assembly have been assassinated.

Note the last bit there about assassinations in the port city of Manta, a drug trafficking hub/ hotspot.

More info on Manga from 2007:

China poised to take over U.S. base at Ecuador’s invitation
World Tribune ^ | December 7, 2007
Posted on 12/9/2007, 10:05:00 AM by sukhoi-30mki

China poised to take over U.S. base at Ecuador’s invitation

Ecuador’s president has offered the Chinese government an airbase currently serving as one of the last U.S. military outposts in South America.

Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said during his recent visit to China that he would offer Beijing a lease on the Manta Airport, the presidential website reported last week.

Currently, Manta is used by U.S. military forces for operations. The contract is up in 2009 and Correa will not renew it, a transport and public works ministry communications official told BNamericas.

Correa said access to the air base is part of a plan for Manta to become a “doorway” for China’s entry to Latin America. Air base operations are limited to one building, but it shares the runway with the city’s Eloy Alfaro international airport terminal.

Terminales del Ecuador, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings, is already operating Manta’s port. Government officials have already spoken of additional Chinese investment for such projects as a rail system. Hutchison has close ties to communist leaders in Beijing and also operates ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

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