Presidential candidate in Ecuador shot and killed at campaign event

The politician, 59, was the candidate for the Build Ecuador Movement

Police and emergency workers stand outside the clinic where presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was taken after he was shot and killed after a campaign rally (Juan Diego Montenegro/AP)

Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio has been shot and killed by an unidentified gunman while at a political rally in the country’s capital of Quito, president Guillermo Lasso said.

The killing on Wednesday comes amid a startling wave of violence in the South American nation, with drug trafficking and violent killings on the rise.