Who Was Fernando Villavicencio?

Union chief. Muckraking journalist. Legislator. Presidential candidate. And, now, murderer’s sufferer.

Fernando Villavicencio, who was gunned down at a rally on Wednesday, had an extended historical past in Ecuadorean public affairs, largely as an antagonist to these in energy. He rose to prominence as a union chief on the state oil firm, Petroecuador, and later performed an important function in exposing a bribery scandal that ultimately led to the conviction of former President Rafael Correa.

Mr. Correa, a socialist, led the nation for a decade by means of 2017, the longest steady tenure of a democratically elected president in Ecuador. A commodities increase helped him elevate thousands and thousands out of poverty, however his authoritarian type and the corruption allegations that trailed him deeply divided the nation

And Mr. Villavicencio was “all the time contesting the ability” of Mr. Correa, in line with Caroline Ávila, an Ecuadorean political analyst.

He held “a outstanding place among the many activists of the social actions in Ecuador,” mentioned Mauricio Alarcón Salvador, the director of Transparency Worldwide’s chapter in Ecuador.

For 20 years, Mr. Villavicencio labored in investigative journalism, with a deal with corruption within the oil sector. “This amongst many different issues provoked the fad, the anger of these in energy,” mentioned Mr. Alarcón.

Born in a small city within the central province of Chimborazo to a poor household, he moved to Quito as a young person to finish highschool by means of evening courses, mentioned Juan Carlos Calderón, director of the investigative information group Plan V and a college classmate and journalistic collaborator of Mr. Villavicencio’s.

His classmates on the Central College of Ecuador described him, then a journalism scholar, as an ardent leftist and a very good debater.

“I all the time noticed him as a really brave particular person, very highly effective in every part he undertook,” mentioned Mr. Calderón. “He by no means actually stopped being that means.”

As a journalist, Mr. Villavicencio obtained paperwork a few authorities surveillance program that he despatched to WikiLeaks however ultimately revealed himself. A few of his work led to demise threats and costs that had been extensively criticized as politically motivated.

He labored alongside the politician Intelligent Jiménez and the activist Carlos Figueroa, who was with him on the marketing campaign rally the place he was shot.

Mr. Correa unleashed “an unprecedented judicial persecution” in opposition to the three, and notably in opposition to Mr. Villavicencio, mentioned Mr. Alarcón, who served as his lawyer earlier than the Inter-American Fee on Human Rights, which granted them precautionary safety measures. The persecution included raiding their houses on Christmas Eve and threatening their households, he added.

“That is additionally an indication that Villavicencio’s work completely touched delicate fibers” that “earlier than had been believed to be untouchable,” he mentioned.

In 2014, Mr. Villavicencio sought refuge for a number of months with the Indigenous Sarayaku group within the Amazon after he was sentenced to jail for insulting Mr. Correa. He additionally spent six months in hiding in 2017 earlier than in search of political asylum in Peru.

There, he met with a good friend from his undergraduate days on the Central College of Ecuador. He had no cash to combat the fees in opposition to him, and had been compelled to depart behind his two younger youngsters.

“He felt bullied and diminished,” mentioned the good friend, Grace Jaramillo, who’s now a political scientist on the College of British Columbia.

However later that yr, Mr. Correa left workplace, and Mr. Villavicencio returned residence. A federal courtroom declared him harmless, and he continued to publish corruption investigations and to file complaints with the Ecuadorean legal professional basic, a lot of which had been corroborated.

He was typically criticized for mixing his roles as journalist and activist, and even Mr. Calderón disagreed together with his selections to file complaints with the legal professional basic.

“I all the time thought-about that one is a journalist, interval. Not a prosecutor or whistle-blower,” he mentioned.

However he mentioned Mr. Villavicencio “had this concept that being a journalist was not sufficient; it was not sufficient to reveal. He thought-about it vital to take even additional motion in order that there wouldn’t be impunity.”

That dedication led him to maneuver definitively into politics, and in 2021 he gained a seat within the Nationwide Meeting, the place he served till Might, when the legislature was dissolved by President Guillermo Lasso, who was dealing with impeachment proceedings over embezzlement accusations.

Mr. Lasso’s transfer additionally triggered a presidential election, with a vote set for Aug. 20. For his presidential run, Mr. Villavicencio, 59, forged himself because the anticorruption candidate. He was representing the Construct Ecuador Motion, a broad coalition, and campaigned on points like private security in a rustic that has been consumed by violence associated to narco-trafficking.

He was outspoken about hyperlinks between metropolis governments and drug-trafficking cash, which earned him enemies, mentioned Mr. Calderón.

“I all the time thought that he was a commerce unionist at coronary heart, wasn’t he?” he mentioned. “And he took that spirit to the marketing campaign.”

Mr. Villavicencio was polling close to the center of an eight-person race, however remained hopeful about his probabilities, in line with Ms. Jaramillo. However he was gunned down earlier than voters may ship their verdict.

The final time Mr. Calderón spoke to the presidential candidate was on Tuesday, the day earlier than he died. When he discovered concerning the killing, he and different buddies rushed to the hospital, the place they stayed till Mr. Villavicencio’s physique was moved to the morgue.

“We knew he was threatened; we thought he was protected,” he mentioned. “You don’t suppose that this might occur to somebody very near you.”

Quickly after the killing, Mr. Correa issued a lament on social media.

“They’ve assassinated Fernando Villavicencio,” he wrote. “Ecuador has turn into a failed state.”