MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuadorian alternate lawmaker and his wife shot dead at circus function

Through Burgos' streaming, the horror and desperation of those present went viral on social networks

Alternate Assemblyman and social media influencer Cristhian Nieto (of the opposition Revolución Ciudadana party of former President Rafael Correa) and his wife Nicole Burgos were shot dead in the Ecuadorean port city of Manta in the province of Manabí on Sunday evening in the middle of a circus function Mrs. Nieto was broadcasting on Tik-Tok.

“The death of the individual is confirmed with several bullet impacts,” said Police Colonel Fabary Montalvo who also confirmed that Nieto was targeted specifically by an armed group that broke into the tent and opened fire killing the couple and wounding two other people.

Through Burgos' streaming, the horror and desperation of those present went viral on social networks. Nieto, 34, was one of the organizers of the circus performance marking Children's Day, which is celebrated on June 1 in Ecuador. He was also an alternate assemblyman for legislator Monica Salazar, of the province of Los Rios, as well as a conspicuous social media influencer known as Cristhian Rescata, portraying actions with orphaned children, abandoned animals, and drug users.

These crimes in Manabí came after those of Mayors Brigitte García of San Vicente and Manta's Agustín Intriago. Ecuador has long become a logistical hub for drug shipments to the United States and Europe. President Daniel Noboa declared the country in “internal armed conflict” in a move to engage the armed forces in the fight against criminal gangs.

“It happened during the entrance to the circus in circumstances that, as we can realize, was a targeted killing. People go directly to attack him,” a Police spokesperson told local media.

Former Correist presidential candidate Luisa Gonzalez wrote on X account that “it is necessary to be very miserable to say that Ecuador is now a country of peace and that one can go out to the streets calmly. This is Manta, in a circus where children and families go.”