Ecuador’s youngest mayor found shot to death alongside adviser

QUITO: Ecuador’s youngest mayor, Brigitte Garcia, and an adviser were found shot dead in a car early on Sunday, said police in the South American country, which is in the grips of a wave of violence that authorities blame on drug trafficking

National police said they were investigating the deaths of Garcia, the 27-year-old mayor of San Vicente, and Jairo Loor, after the discovery of their bodies in the province of Manabi. Both suffered gunshot wounds, police said in a statement.

Garcia belonged to former president Rafael Correa’s Citizen Revolution party. Correa and Luisa Gonzalez, the party’s presidential candidate in the recent elections, called Garcia’s killing an assassination on social media platform X. “I’ve just found out they’ve assassinated our fellow mayor of San Vicente Brigitte Garcia,” Gonzalez said in a post.