Ecuador's prosecutor's office says the order for the murder of a presidential candidate was released from prison

During the trial preparatory hearing, Ecuadorian prosecutor Ana Hidalgo presented her accusatory opinion against six detainees who are being prosecuted for the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The crime shocked the country more than six months ago.

Villavicencio was murdered by gunmen on August 9, 2023, after participating in a rally in northern Quito. The event took place just days before the presidential debate and the first round of elections.

After three postponements, the preparatory hearing for the crime trial was finally scheduled on Tuesday (27), amid strong security measures at the North Judiciary Complex, in Quito.

A CNN confirmed that members of special police forces, bodyguards and anti-explosive agents gathered early in the morning at the premises to monitor order and security.

The hearing was attended by Verónica Sarauz, widow of Villavicencio, and was carried out in a hybrid way, as some people participated in person and others virtually.

Order would have come from prison

The prosecutor responsible for the case, Ana Hidalgo, indicated that the order for Villavicencio's murder came from the Latacunga prison, located an hour and a half from Quito, where members of the Los Lobos criminal gang operate, to which some of those prosecuted belong. for the crime.

This would have been confirmed after collecting evidence such as videos, telephone calls, location tracking, genetic profiles, technical ocular inspection reports, police reports, chats and conversations.

“The messages were sent by the defendant Carlos Angulo to Johan Castillo, one of those involved in the crime, who died that same day,” he said.

She maintained that coordination with the killers to carry out the murder came from the cell of Carlos Angulo, known as “Invisible”, who was detained in that prison, one of the most important and conflictual in the country.

Hidalgo assured that, after the morphological comparison and inspection of Angulo's cell, the Public Ministry determined that it was from there that the murder was ordered. Angulo is considered by the Public Ministry to be one of the main people involved in the crime, as the direct perpetrator.

Gastón Toro, Angulo's lawyer, asked for the process to be annulled because he considered that there were irregularities and questioned the information obtained from the phones seized after the murder.

Toro did not specify at the hearing whether his client pleads guilty to the crime or not, meaning it will be necessary to wait to hear his arguments if Angulo is called to trial.

On the other hand, prosecutor Hidalgo accused Laura Castillo of being a co-author of the murder, stating that she was responsible for providing the logistics and information about the places where Villavicencio was. Castillo was also identified by the Public Ministry as a member of the Los Lobos gang.

She remains in detention, and her lawyer insisted that there were alleged irregularities in the process. He also did not detail whether his client had any degree of participation in the incident.

Laura Castillo, according to the prosecution, previously met with the killers and provided them with motorcycles and vehicles, as well as weapons, ammunition, caps and t-shirts with logos of the Villavicencio political movement.

Meanwhile, the other four detainees were accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office as accomplices for allegedly focusing on surveillance and planning the crime.

After supporting his accusation, Hidalgo asked judge Irene Pérez to summon the six people detained for the crime to trial. The prosecutor suspended the hearing and asked to continue this Wednesday, from 10 am, with the preparatory hearing for the trial.

Lawyers for the defendants ask for annulment

Lawyers for four of the six defendants in this case requested the annulment of the case, considering that there were errors in the seizure of a cell phone, pointing out a violation of the exercise of defense of those involved, as well as an inconsistency in the nomenclature of a cell phone code.

However, the judge rejected the requests and decided that there are no formal defects that could affect the procedure, procedurality and jurisdiction on which the tax accusation is based. Pérez declared the validity of everything that has been done so far in this case.

After Villavicencio's murder, 13 people were initially prosecuted, but seven of them were murdered between October 6 and 7, 2023 in two prisons in Ecuador, where they were detained.

The judge decided to close the criminal case against the dead, considering that their deaths were confirmed by the Ecuadorian and Colombian authorities (since six of them were Colombian nationals).

“It was something terrible, I can’t get over it”, says secondary victim

Patricia Barragán, a friend and supporter of Villavicencio, participated in the trial preparatory hearing on Tuesday. She is one of the secondary victims of the crime.

Upon entering the hearing, Barragán shared with the press some details of the day of Villavicencio's crime, after the campaign event.

“I was behind Fernando the whole time, I was there from the moment he intervened, then I went on stage, we went down and I followed him because I had a request to make”, he reported.

“Fernando told me: 'Paty, give me four minutes.' He just came back and told me: 'Paty, wait for me a moment', but then, we got together, we left and I reached the door of the truck where Fernando got in and the shots started”, he added.

Barragán highlighted that he hopes for justice and truth regarding his friend's death, stating that it affected his environment and shocked the country.

“It was something terrible, something that I still can't get over. I had to undergo a lot of therapies, there were a lot of injections, it was a terrifying moment, something that I still can't believe, for a man so courageous, so fair, for a man who only wanted the truth in this country”, he emphasized.

The United States Department of State in September offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for Villavicencio's murder, and $1 million for information leading to the identification or location of any individual. who occupies a key leadership position in the group responsible for Villavicencio's death.