Fito is captured in Ecuador!
Quito, Jun 25 (EFE).-
Drug trafficker Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar ‘Fito,’ the main leader of Los Choneros, the largest and oldest criminal gang operating in Ecuador, was captured Wednesday, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced in a message posted on social media.
“‘Fito’ was captured (Wednesday) and is in the hands of the Security Bloc,” Noboa wrote about Ecuador’s most wanted criminal, for whom a reward of up to $1 million was offered.
Although Macias Villamar 45, had an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol, his capture took place in his hometown of Manta, in the coastal province of Manabi, one of the Choneros’ strongholds in Ecuadorian territory, according to military sources.
It was the Ecuadorian army that captured Macias Villamar inside a home, according to a video posted on social media showing soldiers aiming at his head while he was already subdued to force him to identify himself.
Manabi is one of the seven provinces that remain under a state of emergency to combat organized crime, which suspends the inviolability of homes, allowing police and military personnel to enter without a warrant.
The main leader of Los Choneros was a fugitive and in an unknown location between late 2023 and early 2024, when he escaped from the Guayaquil Regional Prison, where he was serving a 34-year prison sentence for various crimes including drug trafficking, organized crime and murder.
“We have done our part to proceed with the extradition of ‘Fito’ to the United States; we are awaiting your response. Have a good afternoon, Ecuador,” Noboa added in a message from China, where he is on an official tour.
Since mid-2024, Macias Villamar has had an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol, and the US government had previously imposed sanctions against him and Los Choneros, blocking all their properties and interests on American soil or in the possession or control of its citizens.
Macias Villamar, founder of Los Fatales, one of the factions of Los Choneros, has led the criminal gang since 2020, and has been running solo since May 2023, following the apparent murder in Colombia of Junior Roldan, leader of the faction known as Los Aguilas.
Los Choneros emerged in 1998 in the coastal city of Manta and, beginning in 2007, with Jorge Luis Zambrano Gonzalez “Rasquina” at the helm, took over drug trafficking in almost the entire country, while also forging ties with the Sinaloa Cartel to supply them with cocaine from Colombia.
Macias Villamar’s escape from the Guayaquil Regional Prison came before a series of simultaneous riots broke out in various prisons across the country in early 2024. These were accompanied by attacks and violent actions in the streets, including the invasion of TC Television by a group of armed men during a live broadcast.
This led Noboa to declare the country under an “internal armed conflict” against criminal gangs, which he since classified as “terrorist” groups, and to decree a series of successive states of emergency to stem the escalation of criminal violence that had led the country to lead Latin America in homicide rates.
Since, much of the efforts of Ecuador’s security forces have been focused on recapturing Macias Villamar in a search that lasted nearly a year and a half.
A few weeks after his escape from prison, several of his relatives and friends were arrested in a luxurious residential area on the outskirts of Cordoba, Argentina, and deported to Ecuador, where they were released with no charges or proceedings against them.
In early June, several members of Macias Villamar inner circle, including his brother and relatives of his imprisoned partner, were arrested for allegedly laundering at least $24 million in an operation aimed at dismantling the drug trafficker’s money laundering scheme. EFE fgg/lds
