(RepublicanDaily.org) – Brigitte García, the mayor of a small municipality in Ecuador, was recently found dead from gunshot wounds in a rental car.
Garcia was only 27, making her the youngest head of a municipality in the South American country’s political history. Also found in the car with her was her director of communications, Jairo Loor, who was also shot to death. The vehicle the victims were in was found close to San Vicente, the town where Garcia served as mayor.
A preliminary investigation conducted by law enforcement indicated that the shots that killed Garcia and Loor came from inside the vehicle. A GPS unit was also found, which police say might be a sign that the victims’ movements were being tracked.
The killing of the San Vicente mayor and her communications director have been branded as an assassination by some. Garcia is the latest political personality that has been killed since the assassination of Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate who was shot and killed as he was leaving a campaign event last year. And just a month before that, another mayor was assassinated.
Rafael Correa, Ecuador’s president, expressed shock at the killing. In a caption for a photo of himself and Garcia he posted on Twitter / X, the country’s head of state lamented the incident.
“My God! Brigitte!”, Correa said. “I have no words.”
“Stop! That’s it!!!” he added in the post.
The murders come on the heels of a massive violent crime wave that has been gripping the country for some time. The situation has become so dire that the government has declared a state of emergency in an attempt to better address the problem. While Ecuador has been relatively stable in recent years, agents from drug cartels from Mexico and Colombia have reportedly infiltrated many local Ecuadorian gangs, which has worsened the peace and order situation in the county.
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