In a private ceremony held on Friday night in the nation’s capital, the body of the assassinated Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was laid to rest.
According to his campaign staff, the 59-year-old was buried in the Monteolivo cemetery in Quito’s north.
They claimed that the funeral took place in complete secrecy, with police officers and his nearest family accompanying the casket.
Villavicencio, an anti-corruption activist and congressman who spoke out against the carnage brought on by drug trafficking in the nation, was shot and killed on Wednesday during a campaign rally in Quito.
Villavicencio was assassinated just 10 days before the first round of the presidential election was scheduled to take place. Villavicencio belonged to the Movimiento Construye political party.
Six suspects, all of whom are gang members and citizens of Colombia, were reportedly detained by authorities on Thursday in connection with his murder. Although it is yet unknown what country the suspected shooter was from, he passed away earlier while in police custody.
The Andean country, which was until a few years ago a relatively calm country, is now afflicted by a worsening security crisis caused by drug trafficking and a turf war between competing criminal organisations.
As criminal organisations compete to control and distribute narcotics, particularly cocaine, the Pacific coast of Ecuador has seen the most violence.
The assassination sparked a global outcry of disapproval, notably from the UN Human Rights chief, the United States, and the European Union.
During the course of the inquiry, investigators confiscated two motorcycles, a stolen car that was thought to have been utilised by the suspects, a rifle, a machine gun, four handguns, three grenades, two rifle magazines, and four boxes of ammunition.
President Guillermo Lasso also requested assistance from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in response to the incident, and he tweeted earlier that a mission would soon be in the nation.