Ecuador: 5 people convicted for the murder of 2023 presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio

Five men linked to one of Ecuador’s largest criminal gangs were convicted of the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on August 9, 2023.

Carlos Angulo and Laura Castilla, alleged leaders of the Los Lobos gang, were sentenced to 34 years and eight months in prison for leading the coup.

A Quito court sentenced two men and a woman to 12 years in prison for helping the hit squad carry out the attack.

Prosecutors alleged that Angulo — widely known as El Invisible — ordered the attack from a Quito prison, where he is serving a 54-month sentence for firearms offenses.

He denied the allegations and claimed he was being made a “scapegoat” for the coup.

According to the court, Castilla was left in charge of the coup’s logistics. He allegedly provided weapons, money and motorcycles to the people needed to carry out the attack.

The others — Erick Ramirez, Victor Flores and Alexandra Chimbo — were accused of helping the squad monitor Villavicencio’s movements.

More than 70 people testified during the trial, including a key witness who said the gang was offered more than $200,000 to kill Villavicencio.

The 59-year-old politician and investigative journalist was shot dead as he left an election event in Quito, days before the first round of voting in the presidential election in August last year.

Villavicencio exposed several corruption scandals affecting senior officials, including some in the government of former President Rafael Correa (2007–2017).

Extraordinary elections were called after then-President Guillermo Lasso dissolved parliament and called elections, which incumbent President Daniel Noboa ultimately won in the second round.

In the weeks leading up to the election, Villavicencio received death threats and he was assigned a security detail.

Prosecutors said during the trial that a man involved in the killing was shot and killed in a shootout with police at the scene.

Six other people of Colombian nationality were arrested in connection with the murder, but later died in El Litoral prison, where they were being held in preventive detention.

Prosecutors said so A separate investigation is ongoing into who hired Los Lobos to carry out the attack.

Villavicencio’s widow, Veronica Sarrauz, celebrated the verdict. But she said it’s just the beginning of a long road to clarifying the story behind her husband’s death.

Ecuador has historically been a relatively safe and stable country in Latin America, but crime has skyrocketed in recent years due to the growing presence of Colombian and Mexican drug cartels, which have infiltrated local criminal gangs.

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