7 Colombian Hitmen Involved in Assassinating Presidential Candidate Villavicencio, Are Murdered in Ecuadorian Prison

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The 6 Colombians detained in Ecuador for the death of Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio were murdered this Friday in a prison in Ecuador, according to authorities, the prisoners were hanged. 

The deaths occurred a week before the Presidential elections were to be held. A few days ago, the United States offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the arrest of the intellectual authors of the politician's crime. 

UPDATE: 10/09/23 A 7th man who was imprisoned in connection with the assassination was also found murdered inside a different Ecuadorian prison the day after the 6 were hanged.

The hitmen remained held in Pavilion 7 of the Litoral Penitentiary, in Guayaquil, where some 5,700 people are imprisoned. These are Andrés Mosquera Ortíz, José Neider López Hitas, Adey Fernando García García, Camilo Romero Reyes, Jules Osmín Castaño Alzate and Jhon Gregore Rodríguez. Late in the afternoon this Friday, teams from the Prosecutor's Office and the Ecuadorian Police entered the premises to remove the bodies and proceed with their identification.

The National Service for Comprehensive Attention to Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) reported that the victims "do not show signs of torture or injuries resulting from any combat." Although their bodies have appeared in Pavilion 7, the prisoners had initially been assigned to Pavilion 9, and five days ago they were moved to Pavilion 10, according to police sources. 

Since 2020, more than 400 prisoners have been killed in the Ecuadorian prison system, mainly due to clashes between rival criminal gangs.

President Guillermo Lasso, who was in New York, announced that he will return to Ecuador, where he will hold a meeting with the security cabinet. “In the next few hours, I will return to Ecuador to attend to this emergency. Neither complicity nor cover-up, here the truth will be known,” he trilled in X. For his part, former president Rafael Correa wrote “My God!”, Through the same social network. And he added: “If they are the Villavicencio hitmen, it confirms that the Government was behind the crime. #LassoResponsible ”.

This Saturday the time for prosecutorial investigation against the 13 people accused of being material authors of the murder of Villavicencio ended. On the night of August 9, hours after the crime, the six who had now been murdered were detained in two neighborhoods in the south of Quito and the authorities began an investigation that lasted 30 days. Almost a month later, on September 8, another seven people were arrested and the investigation was extended for another 30 days, a period that ended this Saturday. The Ecuadorian investigators believed they knew who had wielded the weapon, but they did not know the masterminds. The reward from the United States was intended to solve this mystery that, with the death of the hitmen, will be even more difficult to clarify.

“I found out on Twitter,” Diana Patricia Mosquera, the mother of Andrés Mosquera Ortíz, one of those murdered, said by phone. The family was very concerned for their safety since the Ecuadorian authorities detonated a drone with explosives on the roof of the prison. Some interpreted it as part of a plan to silence the hitmen, who had been transferred from Quito to Guayaquil.

Ecuador is experiencing an unprecedented security crisis. Drug cartels have infiltrated a nation that for decades had been immune to the drug trafficking violence that plagued other countries in the region, such as Peru and Colombia. By the end of this year, if the pace does not decrease in intensity, it will reach a crime rate of 40 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, which would place Ecuador among the most violent countries in the world. Violence is the main issue that the two candidates, Daniel Noboa and Luisa González, who will compete for the presidency on October 15, have discussed during the campaign.

The assassination of Villavicencio has tipped the scales of violence in Ecuador. The politician, a journalist by profession, had denounced the infiltration of organized crime in Ecuadorian institutions. He had accused the Los Choneros gang of working for the Sinaloa Cartel. Their rival Los Lobos gang is said to be allied with CJNG and coordinating shipments for them.

On August 9, upon leaving a rally, he was shot by a Colombian hitman, Johan David Castillo López, "Ito", 18 years. Three other gunmen accompanied him in the attack, according to what the surrounding security cameras recorded. Two of them were detained on the spot by the police and by Villavicencio's own followers, who in a matter of minutes understood what had happened. "Ito" was shot when he tried to escape and died at the scene a few minutes later. 

Hours later, the remaining 6, all Colombians, were arrested. The world hoped to know from them who had ordered the crime, but their voices have been silenced forever.

A force of 9,000 soldiers and police assumed control of three provinces of Ecuador hit by drug trafficking and crime, which left more than 1,200 dead so far this year and which led the government to decree a State of Emergency on Friday.

US Military Operations in Ecuador

Ecuador announced on Tuesday that the US military will be able to carry out operations in its territory to confront illegal activities such as drug trafficking and human trafficking, for the second time in the recent history of the South American country.

For this to become effective, the agreements signed between both countries must be submitted to the Constitutional Court, which has the power to approve or deny them, because Ecuador does not have an Assembly because President Guillermo Lasso dissolved it in May. Lasso shortened his own term in the midst of a political trial seeking his removal. His successor will be chosen in a second round of elections between Correísta Luisa González and businessman Daniel Noboa scheduled for October 15. Villavicencio was assassinated leaving a rally prior to the first round of voting for possible candidates.

President Lasso signed the agreements during a 10-day tour of the United States, which ended last week, and in which he held meetings in New York and Washington with different authorities and international organizations to whom he expressed “the urgency of confronting the transnational organized crime to stop violence and crimes.”

Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gustavo Manrique clarified in a press conference that this does not mean the installation of US troops in the country but rather that "they enter short periods, carry out operations and withdraw" and stressed that these operations will have coordination and surveillance with Ecuadorian authorities “so as not to lose sovereignty. ”

He asserted that there is also another agreement that determines a legal framework so that US government troops and officials can “circulate and be in Ecuadorian territory.”

This is the second time in the last 20 years that military cooperation between both countries occurred. The first was the transfer of an air base in the city of Manta from where the US military carried out missions against drug trafficking between 1999 and 2009 when then President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) ended the agreement.

Sources El Pais, Infobae, NPR