The former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, expressed this Thursday that organized crime has infiltrated the State, when commenting with RT on the assassination of the presidential candidate for early elections Fernando Villavicencio, which occurred on Wednesday afternoon north of Quito.
"Organized crime, and this is the crucial point, has infiltrated the State, both the Government, the judicial system, politics in general and also the public force," he said.
Correa said that for him, in this crime "there are links with corrupt high-ranking police officers," due to different actions that occurred around the murder, although he clarified that all hypotheses must be verified.
He said this after pointing out the failures that had been committed in the security of the candidate, who "was threatened" and "was one of the most protected men in the country."
"Despite that, they took him out through the front door (of the auditorium where he held the rally), without a vest, without a helmet, in a van, not even an armored car, without the slightest precautions. The hitmen came from the other side, shot and killed him," Correa said, agreeing with the complaints made by Villavicencio's family.
Referring to one of the videos circulating about the attack, Correa said that "it is clear that all (security) protocols have been broken. How can we understand that?"
The former president also criticized the fact that when one of the alleged hitmen was captured, who according to the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) was seriously injured, instead of taking him to a hospital, he was taken to the Flagrancy Unit, where he died - in his opinion - "in very mysterious conditions."
"They want to blame correísmo"
On the other hand, the former president stated that "the usual irresponsible politicians" want to blame Correa's government for this death, because they were "staunch political opponents of Villavicencio."
"But that's the nonsense that we're experiencing these days," he added, after having stressed that despite being one of the "worst opponents" of his government, during that administration, which lasted 10 years (2007-2017), "absolutely nothing happened to him."
Correa also referred to the announcement by President Guillermo Lasso about the request for support he made to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to investigate Villavicencio's murder. He said that this "is a sign of the failure of his government."
"We can now call Ecuador a failed state," added the former president, while also criticizing Lasso's strategy of once again declaring a "state of emergency" in the country.
