Police have reported that the 27-year-old mayor of San Vicente, Ecuador, a city plagued by gang violence, was tragically murdered along with an associate on Sunday.
Brigitte Garcia, who became the country’s youngest mayor last year, had focused her efforts on improving access to drinking water for San Vicente’s approximately 17,000 residents, situated roughly 100 kilometers east of Guayaquil.
The mayor and her associate, Hairo Lor, were discovered deceased in a car in a coastal area on Saturday night.
Former Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa expressed deep sorrow in a post on Platform X regarding Brigitte Garcia’s murder, noting her affiliation with his movement. Luisa Gonzalez, a candidate of the Revolutionary Citizens (RC) movement in the previous year’s presidential election, remarked that “no one is safe in Ecuador.”
This tragic event follows the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was shot dead after a campaign rally in Quito just eleven days before the first round of elections in August. The government attributed his murder to organized crime.
In January, President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency in Ecuador following violent prison riots and the escape of a prominent gang leader. Additionally, he mobilized the army to address 22 gangs now designated as “terrorist organizations.”
