2024-01-11 05:10:03
QUITO (AP) — Ecuador knows the name “Fito” well, but not his whereregardings.
José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito”, but also “the boss” as he calls himself in songs in his honor, is the leader of the “Los Choneros” gang, to which they attribute links to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. and the protagonist since Sunday of a mysterious disappearance that was followed by a sequence of violent acts and the declaration of the country in “internal armed conflict.”
Authorities consider him one of the main and most dangerous Ecuadorian drug lords, but he allegedly escaped – no official voice has used the word escape – from his cell before he was transferred to a maximum security prison.
Macías was born in Manta 44 years ago in a coastal city in the province of Manabí, where, according to authorities, the most powerful Ecuadorian criminal group, “Los Choneros”, also emerged.
Little has been spread regarding the humble origins of “Fito” in Manta; More is known regarding his danger.
His record is extensive. Robbery, murder, manslaughter, illicit association, entry of prohibited items, organized crime, possession of weapons, attempt on life, crime once morest property and other types of crimes are recorded in a judicial file with around thirty proceedings once morest him, according to the judicial process consultation system.
Now, in addition, he is among the most wanted in Ecuador and a reward is being offered for information that helps find his whereregardings.
But for his mother, Marisol Villamar, he is innocent. “They investigate him for everything. They accuse him of selling drugs, stealing cars and even stealing chickens. For everything that happens in Manta they want to hold him responsible,” he complained in an interview published by the provincial media El Diario de Manta in 2017.
After the death of José Luis Zambrano, alias “Rasquiña”, in December 2020, Fito and Junior Roldán, alias “JR”, were left in charge of Los Choneros, but the latter was murdered shortly following being released from prison. Both deaths left the leadership of that criminal structure, now classified as “terrorist,” in the hands of “Fito.”
The group that, according to authorities, controls the passage of drugs through the Pacific coasts, is linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, to whom it has provided security and logistics services for decades. For example, it ensured the passage of drug shipments that came from Colombia, crossed Manabí and Guayas and headed towards Central America in fast boats.
The Choneros, an organization that had its origins in the 1990s, are accused of all types of crimes such as extortion, murder, robbery, kidnapping, attacks and more.
Its expansion has occurred in association with international cartels, it dominates prison pavilions, according to police information, and until 2020, when Rasquiña died, it controlled other criminal groups. But the disappearance of the initial leader opened a bloody gap due to the dispute for power that is now maintained as rival gangs by groups such as Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos or Los Chonekillers, formerly allies.
Since 2011, Adolfo Macías has been serving a 34-year prison sentence.
His image is unmistakable: long and thick beard, wavy hair, protruding belly and great build. He likes to be observed, hence he did not hide the series of privileges that he enjoyed in prison. On the contrary, he exposed them in videos that circulated on social networks, photographs and even murals with his image inside the prisons in a kind of challenge to the State.
Parties, women, prohibited objects such as weapons, technology, liquor, fighting cocks, jewelry or sumptuous items are some of the luxuries that, according to the numerous searches that the authorities have made in recent years, he had in the Regional prison, located within a prison complex that also includes the Penitenciaria del Litoral, the largest and most dangerous prison in the country, in the city of Guayaquil, regarding 270 kilometers southwest of the capital.
In that center, he exercised control along with Los Choneros, as the prison authorities themselves have recognized.
A few days ago, following the alleged escape that left the authorities with the operation ready for his transfer to the maximum security prison known as La Roca, in the same prison facility, images of that police intervention were circulated that showed his cell and that more It resembled a hotel room.
A framed painting with his image was displayed in the room. In it he wears a toga, since he graduated as a lawyer in prison – according to the record registered on the portal of the National Secretariat of Higher Education -, which ironically contrasted with firearms and money.
There are also other artistic paintings, designs, colorful walls, electrical connections for a television and a bathroom decorated with ceramics and accessories.
President Daniel Noboa himself recently questioned Fito’s privileges in prison by mentioning that in his “cell they have more plugs” than a hotel, “at least four,” he mentioned. “Let’s start with the fact that there cannot be a plug to charge his cell phone, that they do not have an internet router inside his cell,” the president said regarding what should not happen.
From prison, “Fito” sent recorded messages to the authorities and “to the Ecuadorian people,” the leader himself said in one of his videos. In the last one released in July 2023, he appeared surrounded by armed men and even accompanied by a police officer, whose participation the institution admitted although he assured that it was coerced.
He announced “a voluntary surrender of weapons,” in line with a supposed peace agreement that the then government of Guillermo Lasso did not recognize.
One of the most controversial episodes that generated criticism of the previous government was the broadcast of a video clip of a Mexican corrido, whose production was attributed to his daughter and which included scenes recorded from inside the prison in which Fito appears together with other inmates. . The body that controls the prisons denied having authorized the filming.
The so-called “corrido del león” begins by naming him “the patron of patrons,” “leader of Los Choneros” and “a very good person.” He refers to “Fito” as a “sufferer” who endured the kidnapping of his daughter and an attack on his son, from which they escaped safely.
His power and influence on the side of illegality led the public force to mobilize with some 4,000 men in August 2023 to transfer him from the Regional to the maximum security prison of “La Roca”, where he would remain isolated.
But the government’s willingness was short-lived. A month later, a judge vacated the decision and ordered his return to the previous prison, arguing that his life was in danger. Precisely, on Wednesday, the Judiciary Council announced sanctions to the judge for that controversial decision from September 2023.
In that same year, a judge extinguished four proceedings once morest Macías, for robbery, illegal possession of weapons and two for organized crime.
Macías was also mentioned several times by the presidential candidate assassinated in August 2023, Fernando Villavicencio, who held him responsible for threats once morest him.
His alleged escape was mentioned by authorities as a “non-absence” in his cell, leaving it unconfirmed whether he actually escaped from prison. It wouldn’t be the first time. He already did it in 2013, together with his then ally “Rasquiña”, but he was recaptured.
President Noboa said in an interview on Wednesday that Fito was in his cell during roll call the day before at 7:00 p.m., although he also admitted that “it may be that they falsified the list.”
The truth is that they still don’t know where it is. Authorities cannot say when or at what time he disappeared.
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