The Social Christian and Democracia Sí parties announce candidates; the winner of the gold medal in Cuenca receives a hero’s welcome; Turi was at the center of corruption in prison

The Social Christian and Democracia Sí parties announced their presidential candidates on Tuesday. Both parties are expected to pose a strong challenge to President Daniel Noboa and Luisa Gonzalez of Citizens’ Revolution in the February elections. Assembly President Henry Kronfle will represent the PSC, while Iván Saquicela, former president of the National Judiciary, has been elected by Democracia Sí.

National Assemblywoman Dallyana Passailaigue will be Kronfle’s running mate. Martha Rizzo, president of the Casa de la Cultura of the province of Guayas, will join Iván Saquicela as vice-presidential candidate.

Olympic gold medalist Daniel Pintado received a hero’s welcome in Cuenca on Tuesday night after his return from the Paris Games. He is the second Cuencano, after Jefferson Perez, to win Olympic gold.

In their acceptance remarks, Kronfle and Saquicela described a country facing multiple crises. “These are times that require leadership focused on solving Ecuador’s problems and not on selfish personal interests,” Kronfle said. “My campaign will emphasize that the country needs a holistic approach to overcome multiple crises. We must put as much effort into solving our social and economic problems as we do into fighting criminal gangs.”

Saquicela said Ecuador was experiencing its “darkest moment” and said the influence of organized crime in public institutions motivated him to seek the presidency. “So many of the problems we face are the result of corruption in the structures of the state. How can we effectively tackle criminal organizations on the streets without first recognizing the extent of their influence on our judicial and political systems?” he asked.

Gold medalist from Cuenca gets another hero’s welcome
Olympic champion Daniel Pintado received a hero’s welcome in Cuenca on Tuesday evening after returning from the 2024 Paris Games. Pintado won a gold medal in the men’s 20km race walk and a silver medal in the 42km mixed walking relay.

The champion was cheered on a double-decker tourist bus by a crowd of several thousand along a route through the city from the airport. The procession ended at 7:30 at the Alejandro Serrano Aguilar stadium with a concert by the Zuchos del Vado and Guanaco.

Pintado is Cuenca’s second Olympic race walking gold medalist. Jefferson Perez took first place at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Turi was at the center of a prison corruption case
In testimony before a Quito court on Tuesday, a former director of Cuenca’s Turi prison described the network of corrupt prison officials and judges he worked with to grant the early release and transfer requests of convicted gang members. Xavier Raúl Armijos, who agreed to cooperate with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, named judges and described the process by which favors were granted to gang members in exchange for payment. He is one of 31 people arrested in the Plaga case,

Armijos, who has a law degree, admitted that he continued his work with corrupt judges and gang mediators after he was fired from Turi in August 2022. “I assisted in the process of assigning prisoners’ cases to sympathetic judges who, for money, would issue favorable rulings,” he said. “As a private attorney with connections in the prison system, I was able to coordinate requests for which I was paid.”

According to his testimony, Armijos met several times with Lenin Vimos, who prosecutors identified as the leader of the corruption ring in the Plaga case. “He communicated with the judges and negotiated the legal outcomes that the gangs were demanding,” Armijos said. “He came to me and said that he needed Turi to be a central part of fulfilling those demands. He also arranged the payments to those involved in the network, including the judges.”

In his statements, Armijos described details of the releases and transfers of several prisoners and the amounts Vimos paid to judges and prison staff.

Five die in Camilo Ponce Enríquez gunfight
National police have arrested three men following a deadly shooting early Tuesday at a gold mine in the Camilo Ponce Enríquez canton of the western province of Azuay. Five people were killed and three others wounded in what was described as an ambush at the Las Lomas mine.

According to the joint police and military command, the gunfight was the result of conflicting claims to the mine by factions of the Los Lobos gang operating in the provinces of Guayas and Los Rios. The command reported that two of the victims were decapitated. Those arrested and accused of murder are Óscar Z., Edison C. and Jonathan B.