Two Local Election Candidates Shot Dead at Campaign Gathering in Ecuador; a Third Woman Also Killed
Ecuador's National Police confirmed that at about 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 9, four armed men riding two motorcycles opened fire on a campaign gathering in the Los Israelitas district of Huaquillas, a city in the southern province of El Oro on the border with Peru. Ronald Farfán, a former mayor running again for the office, and Cristhian Rugel, a candidate for the municipal council, were shot, as was Hilda Ruiz, a 63-year-old merchant at the scene; three people were killed in all, and one man was wounded.
According to police and local media, the gathering was held at the corner of Eugenio Espejo and Cristóbal Colón streets, where the two candidates were to meet supporters ahead of nationwide local elections set for Nov. 29. Rugel died at the scene, Farfán was confirmed dead after being taken to a local clinic, and Ruiz died on the way to hospital. The Huaquillas municipal government condemned the attack and declared three days of mourning.
Police Colonel Renato González, who commands the police in El Oro and neighbouring provinces, said the four gunmen arrived by motorcycle and fired specifically at the two candidates. He said one early line of investigation involves a prior extortion incident targeting Rugel, but that no motive has been officially established and no arrests have been made.
El Oro is one of five coastal provinces placed under a night-time curfew from Nov. 1 by order of President Daniel Noboa in an effort to curb high levels of violence and crime. Figures compiled by the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory put the province's homicide rate in the first half of this year at about 68.74 per 100,000 residents, the highest in the country and up about 62 percent year on year. The attack on the candidates came days before the official start of campaigning for the local elections.
(Source: National Police of Ecuador)
Source: National Police of Ecuador
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：厄瓜多尔加拉帕戈斯群岛圣克鲁斯岛 Puerto Ayora 的港口（资料图，非事发地）。照片：Pete，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons，本站档案图复用。 / Photo: The harbour of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island in Ecuador's Galápagos Islands (file photo, not the location of the attack). Photo by Pete, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. GSM archive image reused.
