A The Ecuadorian prosecutor was assassinated by gunmen in one of the country’s most violent cities on Thursday, the same day the head of the state attorney general’s office received death threats, authorities said.
The tax agent Leonardo Palacio he died “after an attack perpetrated today (for this Thursday) against him” in the city of Durán, near Guayaquil, the Prosecutor’s Office said on Twitter.
He added that the official was attacked after attending “a trial hearing against two accused of murder”. While he was driving, some subjects intercepted him and opened fire. Authorities collected more than 40 ballistics evidence at the crime scene.
According to local media, Palacios was walking home at night when armed men on a motorcycle intercepted him and they fired about thirty shots at him. The images of his fully turned car are chilling.
Durán police chief Jorge Hadathy told reporters that a secretary from the prosecutor’s office was also in the car, who she was unharmed.
Death threats against Diana Salazar
Palacios’ assassination occurred on the same day that State Attorney General Diana Salazar received death threats through a video sent by Whatsapp and which was disseminated by local media.
In it appear at least six people armed with rifles and dressed in black and with caps that prevent you from seeing their faces.
“You are about to have a birthday, I don’t want to spoil the party by killing your daughter”, says the man’s voice in the video received by the prosecutor, known for they prosecuted for corruption to the former president of Ecuador Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
While the armed men aim their rifles at the ground, we also hear: “If you don’t go by force, you go by force and by force I’ll send you to hell to celebrate”.
Ecuador faces an increase in criminal violence and drug trafficking, with a homicide rate of 25 per 100,000 population.
Last year two prosecutors and a judge were assassinated to bullets in different parts of the country.
Following the denunciation of death threats against Salazar, the Interior Ministry ordered to strengthen the security of the official.
The vice of Salazar and Rafael Correa
The same day Salazar received the death threats, the prosecutor asked a court to set a date and time to file charges against Jorge Glas, former vice president of Rafael Correa (2007-2017), accused of corruption in a work done in the coastal province of Manabí, area of a powerful earthquake in April 2016.
In a video released through social networks, Salazar indicated that he had asked the court that is following the case to deal with his request against Glas, which He already has two firm convictions for corruption, and two other people identified as Carlos B. and Pablo O., all charged with the crime of embezzlement (embezzlement).
The prosecutor recalled that on April 16, 2016, when Correa was still in officean earthquake measuring 7.8 devastated the province of Manabí and the south of neighboring Esmeraldas, causing more than 670 deaths, thousands of injuries and millions of material damages.
In March 2017, the Government of the time signed a contract declared a priority for the construction of the Manta-Colisa motorway, under the aegis of the Solidarity Law issued to serve the areas hit by the earthquake.
According to Salazar, in 2019 the Comptroller’s Office (Corte dei Conti dello Stato) announced that it had detected irregularities in said contract.
AFP and EFE
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Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.