Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, 59, had his rising political career cut short this Wednesday afternoon (9) when he was assassinated in the country’s capital, Quito. He was leaving an election appointment when he was hit by three shots.
Born on October 11, 1963, in Alausí, Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia had an intense career as a journalist and trade unionist at the same time that he embraced a political career.
He studied journalism and communication at the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, where he graduated and began his work as a social communicator. Soon after, he started his political career as one of the founders of the Pachakutik Party in 1995.
The following year, he began working at Petroecuador, the country’s state oil company. There, he worked in journalism and soon took up union positions. He remained a leader of the company’s workers until 1999, when he was dismissed by order of then President Jamil Mahuad.
Even away from Petroecuador, he continued to denounce the company’s problems, such as environmental and labor crimes. He gained notoriety as one of then-President Rafael Correa’s most outspoken critics.
In 2017, he ran for and was elected to a seat in the National Assembly. He held the position until May of this year, when President Guillermo Lasso signed the “cross death”, which resulted in the dissolution of the Ecuadorian parliament.
After losing his mandate, he announced that he would run for president of Ecuador, in the elections scheduled for August 20, through the Construir Movement.
He was married to Verónica Sarauz, with whom he had five children.
Source: CNN Brasil

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