Six Colombians arrested over Ecuadorian presidential candidate assassination

Ecuador’s Ministry of the Interior announced the arrest of six people for the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito Thursday.

In a press release on the killing, officials said they arrested six people “all of foreign nationality.” According to The New York Times, Juan Zapata, the head of the Interior Ministry, said the suspects were Colombian nationals. Following raids in the Conocoto sector of Quito and areas south of it, officials said they were able to locate the subjects as well as multiple types of weapons and vehicles.

“Similarly, during the raids they found: a rifle, a submachine gun, four pistols, three grenades, two rifle magazines, four boxes of ammunition, two motorcycles, and a vehicle reported stolen where the members of this criminal group were allegedly mobilizing,” according to the press release. 

Villavicencio, 59, was known for speaking out against corruption in his home country. At the time of his death at a campaign rally, he was reportedly already receiving death threats.