The drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías Villamar, aka Fito , He escaped from the regional prison in Guayaquil. Overweight, with long hair and a distinctive beard, just as he appeared in photos taken last summer, authorities noticed the escape, which took place on January 7, fifteen hours later during a raid on the prison, which is home to up to 12,000 prisoners . . Fito is considered one of Ecuador's most dangerous criminals and was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2011 for drug trafficking, organized crime and several murders. The Choneros leader gained notoriety outside his country last year after presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was assassinated during the election campaign. A few days earlier, the now missing drug trafficker had threatened to kill the candidate for the presidency of Ecuador.
44 years old, Fito –Money laundering expert– is the only living founding member of the well-known Ecuadorian gang, which claimed hundreds of lives for years in the fight for control of drug routes. There is consternation in the country about this criminal's escape and everyone is wondering how he managed to escape from prison. It's not the first time he's done it. In 2013, he escaped from another prison with other prisoners during a planned attack, but was captured 10 months later.
According to Ecuadorian journalists, in the Guayaquil regional prison he did and undid what he wanted. From there, he not only controlled his drug trade, but also expanded his tentacles into extortion, contract killings and smuggling. Behind bars, he made pacts with leaders of other gangs like that Fatales and the Latin Kings. For local observers, it is not surprising that he escaped in the purest style of Chapo Guzmán, the former head of the Sinaloa Cartel who disappeared twice from maximum security prisons in Mexico. The Minister of Communications of the Ecuadorian government stated that “the state authorities are on the way to find this extremely dangerous person.” “The most likely thing is that there were leaks and it was only a matter of hours,” explained Roberto Izurieta on Teleamazonas about the “Chance” that the leak occurred shortly before the raid.
He President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency due to the prison crisis triggered by the escape, which includes a six-hour curfew at night and early in the morning. In addition, the government has provided up to 3,000 police and military personnel set out to search for the fugitive and accepts the difficulty of recapturing it. “Entering prisons with a failed system like ours is a sign of enormous value, a very complex logistical sign,” Izurieta warned.
Who are the Choneros?
Born in the 1990s and with a long history of racketeering, gun and drug trafficking crimes, Los Choneros was a major player in shipping cocaine from Pacific ports to North America after taking over the market of Ecuador's largest drug trafficker, Washington Prado Álava, alias Gerald, who was arrested in 2017.
Experts from the website Insight Crime assure that in its good times this group was able to transport cargoes of cocaine from the Colombian border with Ecuador to the port of Guayaquil in six hours, which made them valuable partners Mexican Sinaloa posterat the time led by Chapo Guzmán.
Fito took over leadership of Los Choneros while in prison in December 2020 when the gang's leader was murdered. Jorge Luis Zambrano, aka Rasquiña, which sparked an internal dispute between the various factions. In February 2021, inmates from one of these small groups attacked members of the Choneros in a coordinated operation in three prisons, leaving 75 prisoners dead. It was the largest prison riot in Ecuador's history.
Although in 2023 he has dominated the drug trade in Ecuador The Choneros were largely driven out of the port city of Guayaquil; Yet they retain control of other key drug trafficking routes along the Pacific coast.
Ecuador has been in a serious security crisis since 2020 and has recorded the highest number of violent deaths in the country's history, a direct result of the wars waged by criminal groups such as Los Choneros Los Lagartos, the main rival gang. Today, the Choneros are weakened by internal divisions and the deaths of hundreds of their members in murders and prison massacres across the country.
The Mexican security expert Ramon Celala Gamboa has told Ecuadorian media “Extra” that Fito's escape could serve to reorganize the structure of the Choneros, as El Chapo did after his escape in Mexico in 2001 and 2015. and does not rule out the possibility of triggering a wave of violence on the streets of the country. To the extent that the drug trafficker will attempt to regain territory lost to other gangs.