Latest news with #Choneros
CTV News
14 hours ago
- CTV News
Ecuador recaptures gang leader wanted in the United States more than a year after his prison escape
Escorted by soldiers and police officers, Adolfo "Fito" Macias, the leader of the Choneros gang, arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, after getting detained, Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Joffre Flores) QUITO, Ecuador — A fugitive drug trafficker wanted by authorities in Ecuador and the United States was recaptured more than a year after he escaped from prison in the Andean nation, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced Wednesday. José Adolfo Macías, alias 'Fito,' who led a gang called 'Los Choneros' in Ecuador and has been indicted in New York City on charges he imported thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States, was captured in the Ecuadorian city of Manta, his hometown, officials in Ecuador said. Interpol had issued an arrest warrant for Macias after his mysterious prison escape in early 2024 from the Guayaquil Regional Prison, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking. Ecuadorian authorities have yet to explain how he escaped. They only learned of his escape when a military contingent arrived to transfer him to another maximum-security prison but didn't find him in his cell. The Ecuadorian army confirmed Macias' recapture in what appeared to be the basement of a house. A video provided by the army showed the moment of the arrest, with a uniformed officer aiming a gun at the head of the drug trafficker, who gave his full name. The officers had found him hiding in a small hole beneath what appeared to be a kitchen counter. Wednesday's announcement of his arrest comes in the same week that Federico Gómez, alias 'Fede,' the leader of another gang called Las Aguilas, was confirmed to have escaped from an Ecuadorian prison. Last year, U.S. Attorney John Durham said in a news release that Macias led Los Choneros and its 'network of assassins and drug and weapon traffickers' since at least 2020. With an extensive criminal record including charges of murder and organized crime, 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. The seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn charges Macías and an unidentified co-defendant with international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons counts, including smuggling firearms from the United States. Los Choneros employed people to buy firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and smuggle them into Ecuador, according to the indictment. Cocaine would flow into the United States with the help of Mexican cartels. 'Los Choneros operated a vast network responsible for the shipment and distribution of multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States and elsewhere,' the indictment says. Last year, the U.S. classified Los Choneros as one of the most violent gangs and affirmed its connection to powerful Mexican drug cartels who threaten Ecuador and the surrounding region. Authorities in Ecuador have classified the gang as a terrorist organization. Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian government announced the reward for the capture of Macías would be increased to US$1 million. Gonzalo Solano And Gabriela Molina, The Associated Press
Sharjah 24
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Sharjah 24
Drug lord 'Fito,' criminal mastermind in Ecuador
The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. President Daniel Noboa's government then released "WANTED" posters with images of his face and offered $1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Macias Villamar's gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car bombs, holding prison guards hostage and taking over a television station during a live broadcast by force. After months of pursuit, Fito was captured in the coastal city of Manta in a massive military and police operation in which no shots were fired. According to local media, he was found hiding in a bunker accessible by lifting a trap door in the floor of a luxury home. After his recapture, President Noboa predicted that more crime bosses would fall. "We will take back the country. Without respite," he declared. Noboa also said his government was awaiting a response from US authorities regarding Fito's extradition. American prosecutors have charged him, in absentia, with seven counts of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms-related crimes, including weapons smuggling. They allege his gang worked with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel to control key drug trafficking routes between South America and the United States. Prison boss Before his escape in January 2024, Fito was the boss of his Guayaquil prison, which was adorned with images glorifying him, weapons, dollars and lions. Videos show celebrations he held inside the prison, including with fireworks and a mariachi band. In one clip, he appears waving, laughing and petting a fighting rooster. Fito exercised "significant internal control over the prison," the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) noted in a 2022 report following a meeting with the gang leader. He earned his law degree in prison, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for weapons possession, drug trafficking, organized crime and murder. Los Choneros, which first engaged in common crimes, later established links with Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers. The gang currently has ties to the Sinaloa cartel, the Gulf Clan -- the world's largest cocaine exporter -- and Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory. The defense ministry has estimated that the gang is present in 10 of Ecuador's 24 provinces. Virtual army On social media, Los Choneros threatens journalists and issues warnings to other gangs in videos set to music. "Active, Choneros, we are lions here. With Uncle Fito, as expected, controlling the neighborhood, we are bosses here," they say in one of their songs. When Fito escaped from prison, he was identified as the mastermind behind the assassination of presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023. Then-president Guillermo Lasso ordered his transfer to a maximum-security prison in a law enforcement operation that sparked protests by prisoners. The investigation later took a turn and focused on Los Lobos, a rival gang, as being behind Villavicencio's murder. Fito had also escaped prison in 2013, but he eluded authorities for only three months.
