Communist youth leader murdered in Ecuador

Edwing Perez, secretary general of the Ecuadorian Communist Youth organization, died Nov. 10 from complications resulting from a vicious right-wing assault.

Perez was attacked on October 25 by a group of thugs affiliated with the Madera de Guerrero (Warrior Timber) organization, a right-wing organization based in Guayaquil and connected to Guayaquil Mayor Jaime Nebot. The fatal blow was struck by Neptali Ramirez, a supposed law student, who hit Perez from behind with an iron bar, causing cardio-respiratory arrest. He lingered in the hospital until his death Nov. 10.

Ecuadorian sources say the probable reason that Ramirez, whose nickname is “the Scorpion,” attacked Perez was that the communist youth leader and others had been successful in getting a judicial order to redo the elections for the Guayas Section of the Ecuadorian Student Federation (Federacion de Estudiantes del Ecuador). This order went against right-wing organizations with which Ramirez is said to be associated. Those include Madera de Guerrero, and Sociedad Patriotica (Patriotic Society), a party opposed to left-wing President Rafael Correa, as well as the Liga Deportiva Universitaria (University Sports League). Ramirez is vice president of the Student Federation.

Among his other activities, Perez had been instrumental in organizing the 17th annual Festival of Youth and Students, to take place in Ecuador in December.

Communist youth organizations from Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia as well as other countries denounced the murder and expressed their solidarity, as has the World Federation of Democratic Youth.