Ecuador:
In the run-up to the legislative and presidential elections in Ecuador, the first round of which took place on August 20, a deadly confrontation has occurred within the Ecuadorian big bourgeoisie between bureaucratic faction and the comprador faction. On August 9, Fernando Villavicencio, a presidential candidate in the upcoming elections who according to Ecuadorian comrades represents the comprador bourgeoisie, was assassinated in an assassination attempt. Before the assassination, the candidate had reported receiving threats from the "Los Choneros" cartel, but an opposing group called "Los Lobos" claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a statement by the "Front for the Defense of Popular Struggles in Ecuador," the assassination of Villavicencio is an expression of the serious crisis in which the country finds itself. They further state that the elections, which were brought forward by the incumbent President Lasso, are an expression of the need for Yankee imperialism to reposition itself in the region in times of developing inter-imperialist contradiction with Chinese social imperialism and Russian imperialism.

Analyzing the murder of Villavicencio, the comrades go into the deeper background of the crime which corresponds to the interests of Yankee imperialism and its further military interference in the region: “His murder is not only the work of a criminal gang against another drug gang; It is deeper, it is much more than that, here the interests of imperialism interact to position their warmongering, interventionist policies. If the gangs killed Villavicencio, the ones pulling the strings of his murderers are the gringos. Hasn’t the idea of increasing the US military presence in the country with military bases gained momentum in the country? Hasn’t the idea spread that the country ends up being a US protectorate because the rulers can’t control the serious internal disturbances? Isn’t the country calling for a military dictatorship knowing that the militaries are strategic operators of the gangs and that they are at the service of imperialism?“

In the statement, the comrades call for boycotting the elections and emphasize not to believe the electoral propaganda of revisionism and opportunism, which encourage to give their votes to the opportunist Gonzales and call for legality and class collaboration.

Mexico:
In Mexico, there has been another murder of a member of the popular movement. This time it was a member of the community self-defense group of the municipal guard of Santa María Ostula in the state of Michoacán. The murdered man is Lorenzo Froilán de la Cruz Ríos, who disappeared on August 1 and was found dead on the 10th of the same month. According to a report by the Mexican site Solrojista, Lorenzo was kidnapped on August 01 by an organized crime commando on behalf of the old state and subsequently murdered. The funeral of the activist was attended by numerous people from the masses and community self-defense groups, who denounced his murder and vowed to continue the struggle on behalf of all the martyrs until they succeed in obtaining justice and dignity for their communities.

Meanwhile, in the state of Oaxaca, there are developments in the issue of the inter-oceanic corridor in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, which we have reported on several times. A civilian observation mission toured the communities affected by the imperialist megaproject and concluded that serious human rights violations and violence had occurred at the hands of state authorities. In a response from the state government of Oaxaca, the responsible secretary criticized that no interviews were conducted with proponents of the imperialist megaproject and representatives of the authorities. The Solrojista writes that democratic organizations have been trying for years to convince both the federal and state governments to hold hearings on the violence against the people, the criminalization of resistance to the inter-oceanic corridor, and the murder of activists, all of which have been ignored and rejected by the state authorities, and therefore the civilian observer mission and its questioning of the communities affected by the imperialist megaproject is justified and important.