Gunmen kill politician in Ecuador — days after murder of presidential candidate

Pedro Briones, a local politician in Ecuador, has been killed by unknown gunmen.

The politician was said to have been shot at his home in the town of San Mateo by two men on a motorcycle who fled the scene shortly after.

Confirming the news on X, Luisa Gonzalez, one of the main presidential candidates in the forthcoming election, condoled with the politician’s family and said the country has been taken over by organised crime gangs.

“Ecuador lives its bloodiest time. We owe this to the total abandonment of an inept government and a state taken over by mafias,” she wrote.

“My solidarity hug to the family of comrade Pedro Briones, who fell into the hands of violence. Change is urgent.”

Briones was a member of the Citizen Revolution Party and one of the party’s leaders in the province of Esmeraldas on the border with Colombia.

The killing comes days after Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate, was shot dead at a campaign rally.

Villavicencio, who was also a member of the national assembly and the coalition movement party member, was hit with torrents of bullets as he stepped into his vehicle after the rally on Wednesday.

A former journalist, he was one of eight candidates vying for the country’s presidency.

Before his death, he had constantly condemned the relationship between organised crime and government officials and had promised to embark on a crackdown on the gangs if elected as president.

He was also in second place in the polls before the shooting.

Shortly after his demise, Los Lobos, the second-largest gang in the country, claimed responsibility for the attack.