NOS News•today, 12:57•Amended today, 1:46 PM
In Ecuador, an assassination attempt has been made on the country’s youngest mayor, 27-year-old Brigitte García. She was found dead in her car by police yesterday morning. Her communications director sat next to her. He also died in the attack. Police say the murders were committed from a rented car. Nothing is known about a possible motive.
García won last year’s partial elections for the left-wing Civic Revolution Movement party, led by former president Rafael Correa, with more than a third of the votes. This made her mayor of the small coastal city of San Vicente and the youngest in the country.
She gained fame by distributing medicine to people who cannot afford care, reports the Ecuadorian TV channel Ecuavisa. As mayor, García was committed to safe drinking water and wanted to install sewers. A few days ago she reported on X that she was in talks with the Development Bank of Ecuador about improving water quality in the city. She was also committed to agriculture and fishing and wanted to stimulate tourism. Many residents of San Vicente depend on tourists.
It is the third time in a year that a politician has been shot dead in Ecuador. Presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot as he left a school in Quito during the election campaign. A month earlier, another mayor fell victim to a hitman. Several mayors do not come to the office due to serious threats, writes El País.
Luisa Gonzalez, presidential candidate of the Civil Revolution Movement in the last elections, writes on X that she has “no words” to describe the murder. “No one is safe in Ecuador.”
All the murdered politicians came from the coastal province of Manabí, an area heavily affected by organized crime. The province borders the Pacific Ocean and is of strategic importance for the international drug trade.
State of emergency
The attacks on politicians are part of a series of violent incidents that are shaking Ecuador to its foundations. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in January after the leader of a major Ecuadorian gang escaped from prison, further engulfing the country in a wave of violence. Armed men took over a television channel, among other things. The prosecutor who investigated this was murdered while on his way to a trial.
Noboa deployed soldiers to combat the violence and designated 22 drug gangs as terrorist organizations. “We will not allow terrorist groups to disturb the peace of the country,” he said.
