Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia

Fernando Alcibiades Villavicencio Valencia was born in Alausí, Chimborazo Province, Ecuador. He studied journalism and communications at the Cooperative University of Colombia. He worked as an oil trade union leader and investigative journalist, founding the investigative media portal Periodismo de Investigación.

Villavicencio became the nemesis of corrupt political elites and transnational drug cartels. His explosive reporting on Petroecuador oil contracts and the "Arroz Verde" bribery investigation directly exposed massive illicit financing schemes, leading to the criminal conviction and exile of former President Rafael Correa. Elected to the National Assembly in 2021, he chaired the Oversight Commission, investigating money laundering by drug cartels like Los Choneros. On August 9, 2023, eleven days before Ecuador's presidential election in which he was polling second on an anti-mafia platform, Villavicencio was shot and killed by hitmen as he left a campaign rally in Quito, sparking national mourning and global outrage.