The Ecuadorian politician and journalist was assassinated on Wednesday, when he was shot three times in the head by hired assassins as he was leaving an electoral rally in the city of Quito, Ecuador’s capital.

The Salvadoran Foreign Ministry condemned the action and lamented the death of 59-year-old Villavicencio, who was one of the eight candidates in the first round of the presidential elections, scheduled for August 20 in that country.

“El Salvador expresses its strong condemnation and concern about the assassination of the presidential candidate in Ecuador. It also rejects any acts of violence that affect the peace and security of the brotherly Ecuadorian people,” the Ministry pointed out in its X account.

The politician, who was in the second place in the polls, behind Candidate Luisa González, according to the pollster Cedatos, was the proposal from the centrist Construye and Gente Buena movements, and had denounced threats against his life and campaign team on two occasions.

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