Interpol issues red notice against Adolfo Macías “Fito”, Ecuadorian criminal

ECUADOR.- The Interpol has issued an international red alert to locate and Capture the fugitive drug trafficker Ecuadorian Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar “Issue“the leader of Los Choneros, the largest and oldest criminal gang operating in Ecuador.

The National Police announced on Thursday through social media the issuance of the red notice that will be in effect for 196 countries, with his last known photograph, in which he appears with a prominent beard and long hair.

El Fito escapes from a prison in Ecuador

He ‘Fito’ was in the Regional Jail of Guayaquilwhere he was serving a 34-year prison sentence imposed in 2011 for the crimes of drug trafficking, murder and criminal association.

Between late 2023 and early 2024, ‘Fito’ escaped from one of the largest prisons in the country, which was controlled by Los Choneros and where, according to witnesses told local media, ‘Fito’ was the boss.

The escape occurred shortly before a crash was reported in the country. strong wave of criminal violence with attacks, simultaneous riots in several prisons and the assault of a group of armed men on a television channel during a live broadcast.

Fito’s whereregardings are still unknown, although in January his wife and children were located in a luxurious residential area on the outskirts of Córdoba (Argentina), from where they were expelled in a military plane that handed them over to the Ecuadorian authorities.

However, a few hours later, ‘Fito’s’ family was released since there were no legal proceedings once morest them.

The United States goes once morest the Choneros

In early February, the United States Government imposed sanctions once morest Los Choneros and Fito, resulting in the blocking of all property and interests in property located on U.S. soil or in the possession or control of U.S. persons.

Fito, founder of Los Fatales, one of the trailer factions, has been at the head of the criminal gang since 2020, and alone since last year, following the apparent murder in Colombia of Junior Roldán (‘JR’), leader of the faction known as Los Águilas.

The Choneros emerged in 1998 in the coastal city of Manta and from 2007, with Jorge Luis Zambrano González (“Rasquiña”) at the helm, they took over drug trafficking in almost the entire country, while forging ties with the Sinaloa cartel to supply them with cocaine from Colombia.

Even from prison, “Rasquiña” managed to lead the gang and expand its operations, for which he recruited other criminal groups that operated as cells in different parts of the country and that reported to him, such as Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos or the Chone Killers, according to investigations and reports from the National Police.

However, following the murder of “Rasquiña” at the end of 2020, these other groups sought to emancipate themselves and associate with the Mexican Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, which unleashed a gang war and a rise in criminal violence, which has led Ecuador to become the country with the most homicides per capita in Latin America, with 47.2 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023.

Read: Who is Fito, Ecuador’s most wanted fugitive?

Related