QUITO: An Ecuadorian judge has ordered pre-trial detention for two men accused of masterminding the 2023 assassination of anti-corruption presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.
The same ruling also requires a former government minister and another suspect, both currently in the United States, to report periodically to an Ecuadorian consulate.
Villavicencio was the most prominent victim of Ecuador’s recent crime wave, shot and killed outside a campaign event.
Five people were convicted last year for carrying out the killing, but prosecutors have long stated they are pursuing the masterminds behind the crime.
The judge ordered pre-trial detention for Daniel Salcedo, already in prison on separate charges, for allegedly acting as an intermediary with the Los Lobos gang whose members carried out the attack.
The judge also ordered former lawmaker Ronny Aleaga be detained pending trial, though his whereabouts are currently unknown.
The case against them relies heavily on a protected witness who provided crucial testimony to prosecutors.
According to prosecutors, the witness accused Jose Serrano, who served as interior minister from 2011 to 2016 under former leftist President Rafael Correa, of providing classified information on Villavicencio’s movements to the other plotters.
The witness also alleged that businessman Xavier Jordan requested and financed the assassination, coordinating it with Aleaga.
Serrano and Jordan are both in the United States and must periodically report to Ecuador’s consulate in Miami.
Serrano is currently being held at a US immigration center and would need to comply with the order once his immigration status is resolved.
If he is deported, he would need to check in with authorities in Ecuador instead.
Serrano and Jordan have denied the accusations against them in this high-profile case.
Salcedo told a legislative commission that he had contact with the other suspects to plan the assassination.
Jordan, Aleaga and Salcedo have already been investigated in the so-called Metastasis case, a sprawling probe into organized crime and drug trafficking connected to the country’s judicial system. – Reuters