Drug lord Pipo accuses Noboa of ordering assassination!
Zaragoza, Spain, Feb 25 (EFE).-
Wilmer Chavarría, the Ecuadorian drug lord also known as Pipo, leader of Los Lobos, the largest and most powerful criminal gang in Ecuador, denied on Wednesday being behind the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and accused President Daniel Noboa of ordering it.
Chavarría made these statements at the Zaragoza Prosecutor General’s Office in Spain, in an appearance requested by the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office, which the drug trafficker attended, accompanied by his lawyer and guarded by three Spanish police officers and four members of the special police forces.
According to sources close to Pipo’s defense, the detainee answered questions from the prosecutor of the International Cooperation Unit and his lawyer, but refused to answer the three questions sent by Ecuador’s public ministry.
Pipo claimed that someone close to John Reimberg, Ecuador’s Minister of the Interior, told him that the crime was ordered by the current president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, who feared Villavicencio would win the election.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s interior minister, John Reimberg, described Chavarría’s attempt to link President Daniel Noboa to the murder as “absurd.”
“They are terrified of extradition and of El Encuentro prison, and now they will pay for their crimes. They are capable of inventing the most sordid nonsense to evade responsibility,” Reimberg added in a social media post.
Pipo, imprisoned in Spain and wanted by Ecuador for being the leader of a drug trafficking groups, claimed that Noboa and Reimberg intend to deceive the Spanish authorities so that they agree to extradite him to Ecuador or the United States.
Chavarría said that his extradition to Ecuador would mean his death, and claimed in the US (which has initiated a process to claim him for drug trafficking), authorities want him to testify against former President Rafael Correa, whom he denied knowing.
He said that Reimberg had threatened him through an emissary while detained in Málaga and that there were security cameras in the room where the threats took place that could be shown.
Chavarría added that the minister and Noboa intend to “take him out of the picture” because they see him as a competitor in the drug trafficking market, where, according to the detainee, president Noboa “is playing an important role.”
The drug lord said the only reason he agreed to testify on Wednesday was that he had full confidence in the Spanish authorities, who he considers will ensure that his declaration accusing Noboa of the assassination of Villavicencio will not disappear.
Recently, the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office charged Pipo as an alleged participant in planning the assassination.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the alleged intellectual authors are a group of businessmen linked to corruption schemes that Villavicencio was investigating, as well as the former Minister José Serrano.
Villavicencio, a presidential candidate known for denouncing corruption in the Correa government and unmasking criminal organizations, was shot on Aug. 9, 2023, after leaving a rally in northern Quito by a group of seven Colombian hit men.
Only five people have been convicted of the assassination so far, since most of the others were murdered in prison before they could testify.
Pipo was arrested in Nov. 2025 at Málaga airport on the same day a pivotal referendum was held in Ecuador for Noboa.
Until that moment, the detainee had lived between Dubai and the Costa del Sol, where he managed an organization dedicated to drug trafficking, illegal gold mining, and extortion.
Pipo hid behind seven different identities after faking his own death in Ecuador during the pandemic. He also underwent several cosmetic surgeries on his face to avoid recognition. EFE
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