Defense Minister Luis Lara told reporters that the armed forces were deployed across the country and would remain so until the end of the election process.
“Guarantees to citizens that the armed forces will provide the necessary security for the receipt of the vote will be the best response to Ecuadorian vote mafias and their allies,” he added.
Villavicencio’s party Movimiento Construye on Thursday rejected “political use” of his death and called for an early investigation in a statement posted on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter.
The party condemned an unverified video circulating on social media purportedly from a gang called Los Lobos, or The Wolves, claiming responsibility for Villavicencio’s murder and alleging that he had received millions of dollars from them for his campaign. and threatened fellow candidate Jan Topic.
Neither police nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment about the authenticity or origin of the video, which shows more than a dozen black-clad and masked men waving high-powered rifles.
Movimiento Construye said: “Those who sit down to negotiate with mafiosi, who give them microphones, who create fear campaigns with trick videos in the name of criminal organizations and who name Fernando Villavicencio with lies, commit crimes.” are responsible for.”
According to some reports, Los Lobos has thousands of members, and is active in the country’s violent prison system.
Former President Rafael Correa, whose office was heavily criticized by Villavicencio, who was a journalist at the time, reposted the video overnight but said in a post on Thursday morning that it was fake, without giving further details.
Villavicencio was sentenced to 18 months in prison for defamation over statements made against the former president, but fled to indigenous territory within Ecuador and later found refuge in Peru before returning to Korea after leaving office. Went.