Ecuador's biggest drug lord 'Fito' pleads not guilty in US
The leader of the Los Choneros gang delivered his "not guilty" plea in a Brooklyn federal court through his lawyer and with the help of an interpreter, an AFP correspondent saw.
He denied seven charges, including drug trafficking and arms trafficking, punishable by 20 years to life imprisonment.
"As alleged, the defendant served for years as the principal leader of Los Choneros, a notoriously violent transnational criminal organization, and was a ruthless and infamous drug and firearms trafficker," US attorney Joseph Nocella said in a statement ahead of Monday's hearing.
"The defendant and his co-conspirators flooded the United States and other countries with drugs and used extreme measures of violence in their quest for power and control."
The US Attorney's Office filed charges in April against Macias on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the defendant "will soon face justice in the US for leading a vicious transnational criminal organization."
The flight transporting Macias from Ecuador landed in New York state late Sunday.
The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the United States to face the charges.
GANG WARFARE
Macias is the first Ecuadoran extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought approval to intensify his war on criminal gangs.
Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world's two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as enemy gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of "internal armed conflict" and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to "neutralize" the gangs.
The move was criticized by human rights organizations.
Los Choneros has ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, Colombia's Gulf Clan - the world's largest cocaine exporter - and Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory.
Macias's escape from prison prompted widespread violence and a massive military and police recapture operation, including government "wanted" posters offering $1 million for information leading to his arrest.
On 25 June, Macias was found hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the center of operations for Los Choneros. Noboa declared he would be extradited, "the sooner the better."
"We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law," Noboa told CNN at the time.
More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador's ports, according to government data.
In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine.
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