Ecuador court sentences suspects in candidate murder

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The 2023 murder of Ecuador's presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio made him one of the most prominent victims of the country’s spiraling violence.

An Ecuadorian court on Friday handed down hefty prison sentences ranging from 12 years to 34 years for five people found guilty of murdering presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

The journalist and former legislator was fatally shot while leaving a rally in August 2023. This made him one of the most prominent victims of Ecuador's uncontrolled violence.

Six Colombian men were arrested hours after the shooting, but all of them were killed while in prison two months later. Another seven suspects were later arrested, one of whom died and another who was acquitted. The remaining five went on trial.

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/ecuador-court-sentences-suspects-in-candidate-murder/a-69649915

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Who benefited? The current President and son of the country's wealthiest man, who himself lost his campaigns for the Presidency, and has controlled Ecuador's banana trade, Álvaro Noboa.



Here's an article on how he handles business in Ecuador:

Ecuador: Escalating Violence Against Banana Workers

Banana workers in Ecuador are facing an onslaught of illegal firings, violence, and intimidation as they try to exercise their rights to organize and strike, Human Rights Watch said today.

The violence has been concentrated at the Los Álamos plantation group on Ecuador's southwestern coast, where at least ten striking workers were shot on May 16 by assailants. Los Álamos is owned by the Noboa Corporation, whose owner, Álvaro Noboa, is a leading presidential candidate in Ecuador's October elections.

"The efforts to stop unions on the banana plantations have been going on for a long time, but now we're seeing a descent into pure thuggery," said Carol Pier, Labor Rights and Trade Researcher for Human Rights Watch. "The Ecuadorian government has a responsibility to prevent this kind of violence."

On April 25, Human Rights Watch released Tainted Harvest: Child Labor and Obstacles to Organizing on Ecuador's Banana Plantations, a 114-page report that detailed impediments to unionization and the widespread use of hazardous child labor on Ecuador's banana plantations.

More:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2002/05/21/ecuador-escalating-violence-against-banana-workers







Álvaro Noboa







Banana king's son, Ecuador's President, Daniel Noboa