Ecuador mayor survives assassination attempt ahead of general elections

Mayor of an Ecuadorian coastal city, on Saturday (August 19), claimed that he was a victim of an attempted assassination, a day before the country is set to hold general elections. This comes as Ecuador is reeling from an unprecedented surge in violence and reported a disturbing trend of attacks against political candidates which includes the assassination of a presidential hopeful.

They tried to kill me: Ecuadorian mayor

The mayor of the Ecuadorian coastal town of La Libertad, Francisco Tamariz, took to X (formerly Twitter) and spoke about the ordeal that took place on Friday evening. He said that he escaped unharmed after gunmen fired 30 shots at his vehicle.

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“They tried to kill me,” said Tamariz, adding that more than eight people had witnessed the shooting.

Ecuador elections marked by violence

Ecuador has been grappling with an alarming rise in violence, particularly over the past three years, as the nation has transformed into a significant drug trafficking hub. Local gangs, often with cartel affiliations, are vying for control of the streets, prisons, and drug routes, resulting in thousands of casualties.

Luisa González, a prominent figure in the party and the frontrunner in the recent special presidential election, has described this rise in violence as the country’s “bloodiest era.” The recent alleged assassination attempt also comes days after the political leader named Pedro Briones was killed on August 15.

Briones was an organiser for Citizen Revolution, the party founded by former president Rafael Correa and his death was confirmed by González on X. Briones’ death also came less than a week after the daylight assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a vocal critic of organised crime and corruption.

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These incidents follow the killing of Agustín Intriago, the mayor of Manta, Ecuador’s third-largest city, on July 26.

In response to the escalating violence, authorities moved José Adolfo Macías, also known as Fito, the leader of one of the country’s powerful gangs, Los Choneros, into a maximum-security prison.

This also comes as the murder in the small South American nation has recently spiked and soared above that of Mexico and Colombia.

(With inputs from agencies)



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