45 years old, “Issue” had escaped in January 2024 from the Guayaquil penitentiary, on which he reigned supreme and where he has been serving since 2011 a 34 -year sentence of deprivation of freedom for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.
Ecuador’s security forces arrested the drug trafficker on June 26 “Issue”One of the country’s most dangerous criminals since 2024, President Daniel Noboa announced.
Head of one of the country’s main gangs, the Choneros, which reigns in particular over cocaine trafficking, he was also associated with the assassination in August 2023 of one of the main candidates for the Ecuadorian presidential election, Fernando Villavicencio, who had reported death threats on his part.
His real name Adolfo Macias, “Issue” was arrested during a “Army operation” In her hometown of Manta, located some 350 km southwest of Quito. He “Is in the hands of the security forces”a special group of military forces intended to fight drug trafficking, wrote Mr. Noboa on X.
Interior Minister John Reimberg spoke in a video “A 10 -hour operation” led “accurately”at the end of which “Issue” was apprehended “Without human losses”. He was transferred under high security to the MANTA air base, noted an AFP correspondent. In photos published by the law enforcement, we see a bearded and ventripotent man, lying on one of them the shirtless against the ground. In other photos, he appears in shorts alongside the interior and defense ministers.
The Ecuadorian government had offered a reward of a million dollars for any information allowing its capture. 45 years old, “Issue” had escaped in January 2024 from the Guayaquil penitentiary, on which he reigned supreme and where he has been serving since 2011 a 34 -year sentence of deprivation of freedom for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.
“No truce”
This escape had launched an unprecedented wave of violence in the country, leading to the death of dozens of people. It had notably been followed by mutinies in several prisons, as well as street fights triggered by the gangs. Daniel Noboa then declared the country in “Internal armed conflict” And deployed the army to try to neutralize the twenty criminal groups involved.
Bloody war
He assured Wednesday that “Others” criminals “Will fall”. “We will take over the country. There will be no truce ”he said. Noboa said he had started procedures to allow “Fito extradition to the United States”where the New York prosecutor’s office accuses her of arms and cocaine trafficking. “We are waiting for their response”said the head of state.
The United States Embassy in Quito sent a message of congratulations to the Ecuadorian power on X, saying that Washington “Supports the equator in his efforts to combat transnational crime, in favor of the security of the region”. The equator is at the heart of a bloody war between criminal bands involved in drug trafficking, kidnappings and extortion, notably involving choneros.
Just January and May this year, nearly 4,000 people were killed. The mafias compete in particular for the control of territories intended for the delivery of drugs, the main destinations of which are the United States and Europe. This arrest comes only a few days after the escape of another criminal leader, identified as “Wedding ring”which commanded the group las Águilas.
