Mayor shot dead in Ecuador

Brigitte García, mayor of Ecuador. COURTESY

Violence does not let up in Ecuador despite the official discourse of a decrease in insecurity and the militarization of the streets.

Early this Sunday, the mayor of San Vicente, Brigitte García, and her partner, Jairo Loor, who also directed the Municipality's Communication area, were murdered while they were in a vehicle.

It is the first crime of its kind faced by the Government of Daniel Noboa, who decreed a state of emergency and the existence of an internal armed conflict on January 9 after a wave of attacks that ended in the takeover of a television channel.

Brigitte García, a nurse by profession, was 26 years old when she won the sectional elections in 2023 for the Citizen Revolution political party.

With 35% of the vote she became the youngest mayor in the country.

San Vicente is a small city with a long list of basic needs such as drinking water.

Located on the seashore, nearly 25,000 inhabitants live there who are dedicated to fishing, tourism and commerce.

The canton is part of the province of Manabí, one of the areas most affected by high crime rates.

Its location is strategic for international drug trafficking due to its exit to the Pacific.

According to the Police, in 2024 there will already be more than 120 violent deaths.

According to the first investigations, the mayor was shot three times and Loor, two.

The police hypothesis is that the murderer was inside the vehicle that had been rented a month ago.

According to the reports, the shots were fired from inside the car.

So far no person has been arrested for this murder.

President Daniel Noboa has not commented on the murder of the mayor, but the Ministry of Government and the Interior regretted the fact through a bulletin on social networks.

“We reaffirm our commitment to use all the force of the State to not leave these crimes unpunished,” the statement says.

The Citizen Revolution party, promoted by former president Rafael Correa, also expressed its indignation.

The mayor of Quito, Pabel Muñoz, went further, writing in X a direct request to the Executive, "We need real information about the current state of this famous 'war' that continues to leave death, pain and rage."

Brigitte García is the third mayor murdered in Ecuador in a year.

They have all been from the province of Manabí.

The crime deepens the insecurity crisis that Ecuador has been experiencing for three years, but despite the permanent states of exception, the governments have not managed to control the violence.

On January 17, when the president had admitted the existence of an internal conflict, prosecutor César Suárez was murdered when he was traveling in his vehicle to a hearing.

In 2023, in the middle of the presidential campaign, candidate Fernando Villavicencio was shot when he was leaving a political event at a school in Quito.

A month earlier, the mayor of Manta, Agustín Intrigado, was the victim of hitmen while visiting a construction site under his management.

Other mayors like Luis Chonillo, from Durán, cannot even go to his office in the municipal building due to the constant threats against his life.

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