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August 15, 2023

Another Political Leader Assassinated in Ecuador Days Before National Elections
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In Ecuador, another political leader was killed Monday, less than a week
after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio
and just days before Ecuadorians head to the polls this Sunday. Pedro
Briones was fatally shot in the northern province of Esmeraldas. He was
a local leader of the Citizen Revolution Movement, the party of
progressive presidential front-runner Luisa González and former
President Rafael Correa. González blamed the soaring wave of violence in
Ecuador on President Guillermo Lasso, who dissolved Congress in May to
avoid impeachment proceedings. González wrote on social media, "Ecuador
is living its bloodiest moment. We owe this to the total abandonment of
an inept government and a state taken over by mafias."


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