Prosecutor Leonardo Palacios was attacked after attending “a trial hearing against two accused of murder.” While he was driving, some subjects intercepted him and opened fire. Authorities have collected more than 40 ballistic evidence at the crime scene.
The Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office confirmed on Thursday (6.1.2023) the murder of Palacios, which occurred in the city of Durán, a neighbor of Guayaquil, one of the areas hardest hit by crime in Ecuador, which has suffered from a spiral of violence for two years. The Prosecutor’s Office “investigates the fact to find those responsible for the crime,” the note added.
Threatening video against the Attorney General of Ecuador
On the same day, the head of the Public Ministry, Diana Salazar, denounced having received death threats against her and her daughter. Apparently, Salazar received the death threat in a video that reached his cell phone via WhatsApp, from an account assigned to a number in Ukraine (with prefix +380) that showed an image of the same person in his profile photo. attorney general.
The video was released by the local media. In it, at least six people appear armed with rifles and dressed in black and with caps that prevent their faces from being seen. “You are going to have a birthday, I do not want to ruin your party by killing your daughter,” says the male voice in the video received by the prosecutor, known for having prosecuted the former president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, for corruption.
While the armed men point their rifles at the ground, it is also heard: “If you don’t go by force, you’ll go by force and by force I’ll send you to hell to celebrate.”
The Attorney General’s Office rejected in a statement “any attempt to intimidate that occurs due to unrestricted compliance with the constitutional powers entrusted to it.”
