Ecuador holds 6 Colombians in slaying of presidential candidate as violence weighs on nation

By GABRIELA MOLINA and REGINA GARCIA CANO
Associated Press

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador will hold six Colombian men for at least a month as the country probes their involvement in the slaying of a presidential candidate whose life’s work was fighting crime and corruption, the national prosecutor’s office said Friday. Fernando Villavicencio’s funeral was also being held for relatives, along with a public ceremony in the capital’s convention center. Villavicencio was not a front-runner  but his assassination in broad daylight less than two weeks before a special presidential election showed how hard it will be for Ecuador’s next leader to curb the gangs and cartels whose activities have claimed thousands of lives.