Ecuador's biggest drug lord ‘Fito' extradited to US, to plead ‘not guilty'

Yahoo

7 days ago

Ecuadorean gang leader Adolfo Macias Villamar, also known as 'Fito', is set to appear in a federal court in the United States, where he will plead not guilty to international charges of drug and weapons trafficking, his lawyer says.
The Ecuadorean government on Sunday extradited the notorious drug trafficker, a month after he was recaptured following a 2024 escape from a maximum-security penitentiary, the country's prison authority said.
Macias, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, was serving a 34-year sentence at a prison in Guayaquil for a slew of crimes, including drug trafficking, organised crime, and murder.
The flight transporting Macias landed in New York state on Sunday night, the report said. His lawyer told the Reuters news agency that Macias 'will plead not guilty' before the Brooklyn federal court on Monday.
Details of the handover to the US government and the extradition were not specified. The US government has yet to issue an official statement following the extradition.The US Attorney's Office had filed charges in April against Macias on suspicion of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms violations, including weapons smuggling.
The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed in a Quito court last week to be extradited to the US to face the charges.
He is the first Ecuadorean extradited by his country since a new measure was written into law last year, after a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of moves to boost his war on criminal gangs.
Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world's two top cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as rival gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
Cult following
Soon after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024, Noboa declared Ecuador to be in a state of 'internal armed conflict' and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to 'neutralise' the gangs. The move has been criticised by human rights organisations.
As a drug lord, Macias cultivated a cult status among fellow gang members and the public.
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.
Macias's Los Choneros has ties to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, Colombia's Gulf Clan, which is considered the world's largest cocaine exporter, as well as Balkan mafias, according to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory.
His escape from prison prompted widespread violence and a massive military and police recapture operation, including government 'wanted' posters offering $1m for information leading to his arrest.
On June 25, Macias was found hiding in a bunker concealed under floor tiles in a luxury home in the fishing port of Manta, the centre of operations for Los Choneros. Noboa declared he would be extradited, 'the sooner the better'.
'We will gladly send him and let him answer to the North American law,' Noboa told CNN at the time.
More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now passes through Ecuador's ports, according to government data. In 2024, the country seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs, mainly cocaine.
Solve the daily Crossword