
Ecuador extradites leader of violent Ecuadorian drug gang to the United States
José Adolfo Macías Villamar, whose nickname is 'Fito,' escaped from a prison in Ecuador last year and was recaptured late June. In April, a U.S. Attorney indicted him in New York City on charges he imported thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States.
Macías 'was removed from the La Roca Detention Center under the custody of the National Police and Armed Forces for the appropriate proceedings in the context of an extradition process,' Ecuador's government agency responsible for overseeing prisons, SNAI, said in a message sent to journalists.
Details of the handover were not specified.
A photograph released by SNAI showed Macías wearing a T-shirt, shorts, a bulletproof vest and helmet. Several police officers were guarding him at an undisclosed location.
The extradition decision came after the United States sent a document to Ecuador offering guarantees for the respect of the rights of the 45-year-old criminal leader.
Since 2020, Macías has led 'Los Choneros,' a criminal organization that emerged in the 1990s. The gang employed people to buy firearms and ammunition in the United States and smuggle them into Ecuador, according to April's indictment. Cocaine would flow into the United States with the help of Mexican cartels. Together, the groups controlled key cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador, violently targeting law enforcement, politicians, lawyers and civilians who stood in the way.
Macías escaped from a Guayaquil prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking, organized crime, and murder. He was recaptured a year and a half later on the country's central coast.
Macías has cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public in his home country. While behind bars in 2023, he released a video addressed to 'the Ecuadorian people' while flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters for cockfighting matches.
Macías is the first Ecuadorian to be extradited to the U.S. from Ecuador, prison authorities said. Two other Ecuadorian drug traffickers have previously been handed over to the United States but from Colombia, where they were arrested.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
An attack on a Congolese church killed nearly 40 worshippers. Here's what to know
LAGOS, Nigeria. (AP) — Nearly 40 people were killed Sunday in eastern Congo's Ituri province when rebels stormed a Catholic church during a vigil and opened fire on worshippers, including many women and children. At least 38 people were confirmed dead in the church while another five were killed in a nearby village. The victims included 19 men, 15 women and nine children.


Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
India says its troops killed 3 suspected militants in Kashmir fighting
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian troops killed three suspected militants in a gunfight in a forested area in disputed Kashmir, officials said Monday. The Indian military in a statement on social media said three militants were killed 'in an intense firefight' in the forested area in Dachigam area, some 30 kilometers (19-miles) northeast of the region's main city of Srinagar.


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
India says its troops killed 3 suspected militants in Kashmir fighting
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Indian troops killed three suspected militants in a gunfight in a forested area in disputed Kashmir, officials said Monday. The Indian military in a statement on social media said three militants were killed 'in an intense firefight' in the forested area in Dachigam area, some 30 kilometers (19-miles) northeast of the region's main city of Srinagar. Police Inspector-General Vidhi Kumar Birdi told reporters that the joint operation by the military, paramilitary and police was still ongoing. Officials did not give any other details. The Associated Press couldn't independently verify the details. Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Himalayan Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict. Monday's incident is the is the second major gunfight since a gun massacre in the region in April that killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, in Indian-controlled Kashmir. That led to tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan that brought the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. The Indian army also said in May that its soldiers killed three suspected militants in a gunfight. Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam, the fighting had largely ebbed in the region's Kashmir Valley, the heartland of anti-India rebellion and mainly shifted to mountainous areas of Jammu in the last few years. The massacre increased tensions between India and Pakistan, leading to the worst military confrontation in decades and the death of dozens of people until a ceasefire was reached on May 10 after U.S mediation. The region has simmered in anger since New Delhi ended the region's semi-autonomy in 2019 and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying counterinsurgency operations.