Fernando Villavicencio facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fernando Villavicencio
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| Member of the National Assembly for the National Constituency |
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| In office 14 May 2021 – 17 May 2023 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia
11 October 1963 Alausí, Ecuador |
| Died | 9 August 2023 (aged 59) Quito, Ecuador |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Political party | Coalition Movement (2018–2021) Pachakutik (1995–2017) |
| Spouse | Verónica Sarauz |
| Children | 5 |
| Education | Cooperative University of Colombia |
Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia (11 October 1963 – 9 August 2023) was an Ecuadorian politician, trade unionist and journalist who ran for president of Ecuador in the 2023 general election. He served as a member of the National Assembly from 2021 until the dissolution of the legislative body on 17 May 2023.
Prior to his political career, he was an investigative journalist. A critic of former President Rafael Correa, Villavicencio was in exile in Peru after legal issues following his public critiques of the Correa administration. He spent several months imprisoned until all charges were dropped in February 2018.
Having unsuccessfully ran for the National Assembly in 2017, Villavicencio was elected in 2021, representing the national constituency. In May 2023, he announced his presidential candidacy for that year's general election.
Villavicencio was assassinated on 9 August 2023 following a campaign rally in Quito.
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Early life
Villavicencio was born in Alausí, Ecuador. He studied journalism and communication at the Cooperative University of Colombia. He was married to Verónica Sarauz, whom he met while working at the National Assembly. They had five children.
After college, he was one of the founders of the Pachakutik Party in 1995. He joined Petroecuador in 1996 first as a social communicator and then as a trade unionist until 1999, when he was fired by the government of Jamil Mahuad. Using the settlement after his firing, he opened a pizzeria with his brother.
Journalism career
Villavicencio began his journalism career with El Universo in Guayaquil. During his investigative career at El Universo, he was critical of various governments such as that of Gustavo Noboa whom he accused of corruption. Most of his work was criticised, and its credibility questioned, due to the newspaper's conservative funding.
In 2015, Cynthia Viteri and Villavicencio sent secret documents to WikiLeaks showing that Ecuador was using an Italian company to run a surveillance program that was spying on journalists and political enemies, in addition to spying on Julian Assange in the embassy. The New York Times reported that leaked chat logs from 2015 show that Assange and his inner circle were aware of the documents, which were not published by WikiLeaks.
Political career
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During the 2013–2014 National Assembly session, Villavicencio was a parliamentary assistant to Cléver Jiménez. During this time, Jiménez and Villavicencio accused President Rafael Correa of having ordered an armed incursion at a hospital during a police revolt in September 2010. He was sued by Correa for libel, and Villavicencio was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He traveled to Washington, D.C., seeking assistance from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, but when he returned to Ecuador, he already had an arrest warrant against him. Instead of turning himself in, he hid in the Amazon region until his sentence expired.
At first when he announced his parliamentary candidacy for the 2017 general election, his campaign was disallowed due to his legal charges. Once the charges were dismissed, he was able to resume his campaign; however, he lost the election. After his defeat, he was arrested on charges of insult and espionage following his criticisms of the Correa administration. He fled to Peru and during his asylum in the country, all charges against him were dropped in February 2018.
Villavicencio ran again for the National Assembly in 2021 under the Honesty Alliance, this time winning a seat for the national constituency.
In May 2023, his tenure at the National Assembly ended with President Guillermo Lasso's dissolution of the National Assembly. Prior to the dissolution, Villavicencio was criticized by several Assembly members due to his obstruction of Lasso's impeachment process.
2023 presidential campaign
Shortly after the National Assembly was dissolved, Villavicencio announced his candidacy for president of Ecuador in the 2023 election. He focused on the growing corruption, violence in the country and environmental protection.
In June 2023, he named environmentalist Andrea González as his running mate. On 10 June, the Villavicencio-González ticket registered its candidacy under the Movement Construction Alliance and two days later the National Electoral Council (CNE) approved their candidacy. However on 16 June, his candidacy was rejected due to insufficient information; however the issue was resolved and his candidacy was re-approved four days later.
A 9 July poll, found Villavicencio in fourth place, polling at 10.23%. A week later on 18 July, a poll found Villavicencio polling in second place with 13.2%, with former Assemblywoman Luisa González in first place at 26.6%. In August 2023, Villavicencio had been polling at 7.5%.
Assassination
On 9 August 2023 at 18:20 (ET), Villavicencio was shot in the head while entering a vehicle shortly after concluding a campaign rally at Colegio Anderson in the northern part of Quito. Villavicencio was rushed to a nearby clinic where he was pronounced dead. He was 59 years old.
Following the assassination, Villavicencio's widow Verónica Sarauz, said that his security team had failed. Villavicencio's running mate Andrea González said that a street in his hometown of Alausí would be named in his honor.
See also
In Spanish: Fernando Villavicencio para niños
