Ecuador’s youngest mayor, 27-year-old Brigitte García, was found shot
dead Sunday morning, the country’s national police said.
In a statement posted on X, police said that García, the mayor of San
Vicente, a small coastal city, was in what is believed to be a rental car along
with her communications director, Jairo Loor, who was also killed from a
gunshot wound. Preliminary investigations suggest the shots were fired from
inside the car, police said.
Further investigations are underway, police said. In a statement on Sunday,
the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government called the incident a “criminal action”
and referenced a national “fight against terrorism, organized crime and
political corruption,” although they did not accuse any person or group of
being behind the killings.
“We stand in solidarity with their families and reaffirm our commitment
to use all force of the State not to leave these crimes unpunished,” the ministry said.
Garcia was the youngest mayor in the country, according
to her X profile. Former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa took to social media to
express his disbelief, saying, “enough!”
“My God! Brigitte! She was the youngest mayor of the country,” he added,
along with a photo that showed him and García embracing.
A memorial for García is planned for Monday afternoon, according to the
San Vicente municipality. Her burial is scheduled for Tuesday.
Ecuador has been grappling
with a surge in violence at the hands of armed gangs.
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In January, Ecuador declared a
state of emergency after notorious gang leader José Adolfo Macías, also
known as ‘Fito’, escaped from prison in Guayaquil. Ecuadorian President Daniel
Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict” in the nation the following day and
ordered armed forces to execute “military operations to neutralize” the
violence across the country. More than 2,000 people were detained less than two
weeks after the decree, according to the president’s office.
García was elected last year
as a member of the left-wing Citizen Revolution Party, which is aligned with
Correa, the former president.
According to her social media feed, she had
worked in recent weeks to help bring clean drinking water to San Vicente,
meeting recently with the country’s development bank on the project.
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