Presidential Candidate in Ecuador Shot, Killed at Campaign Event

Fernando Villavicencio is feared to have been assassinated

Former Assembly member and now presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, greets supporters outside the Attorney General's Office in Quito on Aug. 8, 2023. RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was killed in what President Guillermo Lasso called an assassination by unidentified individuals at a political rally in the country’s capital of Quito on Aug. 9.

His death comes less than two weeks before Ecuador’s elections, scheduled for Aug. 20.