Fernando Villavicencio, a candidate to become Ecuador’s next president, was shot and killed while leaving a political rally in the capital city of Quito on Wednesday (August 9). He was 59.

According to the BBC, Villavicencio was getting into a car when a man shot him in the head. Witnesses reported that Villavicencio was shot three times and that the gunman managed to escape. Current President Guillermo Lasso confirmed Villavicencio’s death on social media.

“For his memory and his fight, I assure you that this crime will not remain unpunished,” Lasso said. “Organized crime has come a long way, but the full weight of the law will fall on them.”

Villavicencio, who was an outspoken critic of former President Rafael Correa, served as a member of the National Assembly from 2017 to 2023 when the Lasso dissolved parliament through “muerte cruzada” (“mutual death”).

Luisa González, another presidential candidate, commented on the tragedy and said that the act would not go unpunished. “When they touch one, they touch all,” she said. “When one’s life is at risk, everyone’s is at risk. My hug to each and every Ecuadorian victim of terror.”

A journalist by trade, Villavicencio was polling at 7.5%, which put him in fifth place out of eight candidates for the presidential seat. The election is scheduled for August 20, 2023.