Ecuador arrests six Colombians as suspects in slaying of anti-corruption presidential candidate

By GONZALO SOLANO and REGINA GARCIA CANO
Associated Press

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — An Ecuadorian police report says the six men arrested as suspects in the assassination of an anti-corruption presidential candidate are Colombian nationals. Authorities are still investigating the motive behind a crime that has shocked a nation already reeling from a surge in drug-related violence. The police report viewed by The Associated Press on Thursday says the six men were captured hiding in a house in Quito, Ecuador’s capital. Fernando Villavicencio was shot to death in the city Wednesday. He had said he was threatened by affiliates of Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, one of a slew of international organized crime groups that now operate in Ecuador.