Quito, Ecuador CNN —Six suspects arrested in connection with the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are Colombian nationals and gang members, authorities have confirmed, as a former vice president demanded action over spiraling levels of violence in the South American country. Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio waves an Ecuadorian flag as he attends a rally in Quito on August 9. People take cover after shots were fired at the end of a rally of Ecuadorian presidential cadidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito on August 9. Ecuador’s presidential election, scheduled for August 20, will go ahead as planned, the Electoral Council President Diana Atamaint said Thursday. He noted that Villavicencio had first entered public life as an investigative journalist who fought against corruption and abuses of power.

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Persons: Fernando Villavicencio, Juan Zapata, Karen Toro, Zapata, Guillermo Lasso, Lasso, ’, Otto Sonnenholzner, ”, ” Sonnenholzner, cadidate Fernando Villavicencio, Sonnenholzner, Villavicencio, Diana Atamaint Organizations: Ecuador CNN —, Wednesday, General’s, Reuters, CNN, US Federal Bureau of Investigation, UN Human Rights, European Union, Ecuadorian, AFP, Getty, Electoral, Sunday, Movimiento Construye Locations: Quito, Ecuador, United States, Quito .