Six men suspected of involvement in the murder of Ecuador’s anti-corruption presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, have been killed in prison.

The SNAI prisons agency, in a statement, disclosed that the suspects were killed on Friday, October 6, 2023.

This is coming barely a week before a crucial run-off election in the country.

The killings took place in a penitentiary in Guayaquil, the South American country’s largest city, the attorney general’s office announced on Friday.

Ecuador’s government swiftly condemned the killings as outgoing President Guillermo Lasso, in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, pledged “neither complicity nor cover-up” in getting to the bottom of the killings.

“Here the truth will be known,” he said.

The SNAI prisons agency stated that the six men were all Colombian nationals.

READ ALSO: Ecuador’s presidential candidate Villavicencio assassinated

It, however, gave no more details of the killings.

According to Reuters, the government has said authorities are determined to identify those behind Villavicencio’s murder.

Villavicencio, a prominent journalist, was gunned down in August 2023, less than two weeks before a first-round general election as he left a campaign event in the capital, Quito.

Police arrested the six Colombians on the day of Villavicencio’s assassination.

A seventh suspect, also Colombian, was shot and killed by police, while other suspects were later arrested.

The second round run-off vote is scheduled for October 15, the culmination of an election cycle marred by numerous incidents of violence.

Business heir, Daniel Noboa, who holds a narrow lead in some polls ahead of the run-off, in a social media post, said the government must provide details of what occurred at the prison and that peace must be restored in the country.

His main rival for the presidency is Luisa Gonzalez, a protege of leftist former President Rafael Correa.

She has said surging crime is unprecedented and that voters should not allow “terror” to stop them from voting for change.

The Star