Fernando Villavicencio is the third electoral candidate to be killed in Ecuador in a matter of weeks. The former investigative journalist campaigned on an anti-corruption platform, accusing government officials of having links to organised crime.

Ecuador is struggling with rising gang violence and drug trafficking.

The president has declared a state of emergency and deployed the army.

But will it be enough? Have criminal groups taken control of politics?

And was the shooting a message for other politicians?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Manuela Picq – Professor of international relations at Amherst College and Universidad San Francisco de Quito

Javier Farje – Journalist and Latin American affairs analyst

Grace Jaramillo – Professor at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and a friend of the late Villavicencio