Mayor murdered, shot

National police said they were investigating the deaths of Mayor Garcia and Jairo Lure, 27, of San Vicente, after their bodies were found in Manabi province. Police said in a statement that both had been shot. García belonged to the Civil Revolution Party of former President Rafael Correa. Correa and Luisa González, the party’s presidential candidate in recent elections, described García’s death as murder on the social media platform X. “I just learned that they have murdered our fellow mayor of San Vicente, Brigitte Garcia,” Gonzalez said in a post. “I have no words, I am in shock, no one is safe in Ecuador.”

Garcia is the latest political figure in the country to be assassinated, following the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last August. Villavicencio, an outspoken critic of corruption and organized crime, was assassinated while leaving a campaign event two weeks before the election.