International
The trial for the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio begins in Ecuador
The Justice of Ecuador began on Tuesday the trial for the murder of the then presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, at the hands of hitmen on August 9, 2023, eleven days before the celebration of the first round of the extraordinary general elections.
When presenting the facts at the trial hearing, the Prosecutor’s Office recalled that the attackers shot and injured 14 people, including Villavicencio, 3 police officers, political militants and a person who was driving in a vehicle.
At the hearing, a video was also presented with the anticipated testimony of a protected witness who narrated his participation in previous planning meetings, but not in the murder of the one who was a candidate for the Ecuadorian presidency.
In the version he pointed out that one of those involved in the crime would have told him days after the murder that “that head (that of Fernando Villavicencio) was worth 200,000 dollars and was sent to be done by the Government of Correa,” the Primicias portal published.
Former President Rafael Correa, who ruled Ecuador between 2007 and 2017, reacted on his social network X account to the publication of Primicias: “It was time… The same formula: protected and anonymous ‘witness’. Anyway…”
The Prosecutor’s Office recalled that after the attack in Villavicencio he was transferred to a clinic, where his death was confirmed, while the attackers fled with the exception of one, “who was neutralized at the scene and transferred to the flagrante deception unit, where his death was confirmed.”
He added that the Police raided a home in Quito where he arrested six people for their alleged participation in the crime: Andrés M., José L., Adey G., Camilo R., Jules C. and Jhon R., now deceased, so the criminal action against them was extinguished.
The investigations determined the alleged involvement of seven other people: Carlos A., Laura C. Erick R., Alfonso F., Alexandra Ch., José M. (deceased) and another citizen who was dismissed, the Prosecutor’s Office added.
He pointed out that Carlos A. alias “invisible” considered a mediate author, was part of the criminal group called ‘Los Lobos’ and on the day of the murder he was imprisoned in a prison.
“Through a cell phone he gave the disposition to Johan C. (deceased) to execute the shots,” the Public Ministry said, adding that Laura C. would have been in charge of the logistics, and Alexandra Ch. would be an accomplice because she sent information from inside the site where Villavicencio led the political rally.
On this first day, the defense of alias ‘Invisible’ expressed that the phone from which the information that relates his defendant to the case has been extracted is contaminated, since since the beginning of the case it was violated with the due chain of custody, Primicias narrated.
At the trial hearing, installed on the fourth attempt and under a strong security device, Hugo Espin, lawyer for Villavicencio’s wife, Verónica Sarauz, recalled that seven of the defendants were murdered.
“We have always had the concern that the investigation was quite biased to the part of the execution of the crime, not to the intellectual authorship,” he said.
And he said that they will now review “within the versions and within the different exhibitions that will be held, precisely how far we should take an investigation and, eventually, we have already analyzed the presentation of a different complaint that makes a goal case.”
In the early hours of this Tuesday’s hearing, the versions of four witnesses from the Prosecutor’s Office were heard, including the police officer in charge of the removal of the body of Villavicencio.
The murdered political leader participated in the extraordinary elections called after the then head of state, Guillermo Lasso, dissolved Parliament and called for elections, in which Daniel Noboa finally triumphed in the second round.
International
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
A 65-year-old Austrian citizen was arrested at a border checkpoint in Croatia after attempting to enter the country in his car with a deceased woman sitting as a passenger, police announced on Tuesday.
The man was detained in a routine check in late November in Gunja, a border area separating Bosnia from Croatia, the police told AFP. Suspicious because they saw “no consciousness or movement” from the passenger, Croatian officers called a doctor, who confirmed the death of the 83-year-old woman, also Austrian, according to her identification.
The woman’s relationship to the suspect is unknown. She had died in Bosnia, and the man intended to repatriate her body to Austria to “avoid the formalities related to transporting a corpse,” according to the police. Croatian media reported that the man was her legal guardian.
Once her death was confirmed, a funeral service took charge of the body.
International
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Colombian authorities arrested two nationals accused of the illegal trafficking of migrants to the United States and of endangering lives due to the disappearance of a boat with 40 people aboard, U.S. Department of Justice officials reported on Tuesday.
Hernando Manuel de la Cruz Rivera Orjuela, 52, and Luis Enrique Linero Pinto, 40, both Colombian citizens, were arrested on December 13 in Colombia at the request of the United States for their alleged involvement in a “transnational human trafficking operation,” the department said in a statement.
According to the charges, the detainees were transporting migrants to San Andrés Island in the Caribbean, where they would then be taken by boat to Nicaragua. The goal was to reach the United States through Central America and Mexico.
The accused are said to have advised the migrants on how to reach San Andrés Island, where they personally received them, arranged accommodations, and “took them to the boats that transported them to Nicaragua so they could enter the United States illegally,” the statement reads.
“These defendants put several migrants on the boat that disappeared off the coast of Nicaragua in 2023,” said Deputy Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, as cited in the statement.
Both men are “directly and personally responsible for the illicit trafficking of migrants on that vessel,” according to the indictment dated October 23.
International
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
Two soldiers were killed and five others were injured by the explosion of homemade landmines planted by a criminal group in a mountainous area of the Mexican state of Michoacán (west), the Secretary of Defense reported on Tuesday.
The attack occurred on Monday morning in the municipality of Cotija, a border area between Michoacán and the state of Jalisco, when the military was conducting a reconnaissance mission after receiving information about an armed camp in the area, explained Secretary General Ricardo Trevilla.
“At that moment, an improvised explosive device detonated. Unfortunately, two soldiers lost their lives, and five others were injured,” the military leader detailed. The affected soldiers were airlifted to hospitals in the region by a military helicopter, while the rest of the team continued with the reconnaissance of the area.
Trevilla stated that before the explosion, the military unit had located the dismembered bodies of three people, and upon continuing the mission, they confirmed the camp was abandoned.
Asked about the individuals responsible for placing the explosives, the general suggested they could be criminals linked to the local group Cárteles Unidos, which operates in Michoacán and uses these tactics in their territorial dispute with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country.
Austrian man arrested in Croatia with deceased woman as passenger in his car
Colombian nationals arrested for human trafficking and disappearance of migrant boat
Homemade landmine explosion in Michoacán kills two soldiers, injures five
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