Ecuador's most-wanted gang leader 'Fito' captured
"We have done our part to proceed with Fito's extradition to the United States, we are awaiting their response," Daniel Noboa wrote on X.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, known as Fito, escaped custody in Ecuador in early 2024 and American prosecutors charged him, in absentia, with seven counts of cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms-related crimes, including weapons smuggling.
Macias Villamar's January 2024 escape resulted in a surge of gang-related violence in Ecuador that lasted days and left about 20 people dead.
Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency in nearly a third of its provinces to quell the violence, but the drug lord was at-large until Wednesday's announcement.
The months-long manhunt ended with the president stating Fito was in the custody of special military forces fighting narcotics trafficking.
The army and police reported that he was captured during a 10-hour operation in Manta, a fishing port in western Ecuador considered a stronghold for his gang.
Fito's hideout evoked scenes from a movie thriller -- local media reported that officers lifted a trap door in floor tiles of a luxury home to discover the outlaw hiding in a bunker.
The US Embassy congratulated Quito on the arrest, posting in Spanish on its X account that Washington "supports Ecuador in its efforts to combat transnational crime for the security of the region."
- Cartel terror campaign -
Ecuador, once a peaceful haven between the world's two top cocaine exporters Colombia and Peru, has seen violence erupt in recent years as enemy gangs vie for control and establish ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels.
Macias Villamar is the leader of Los Choneros, the leading criminal gang in a country plagued by organized crime.
Gang wars largely played out inside the country's prisons, where Macias Villamar wielded immense control.
He had been held since 2011, serving a 34-year sentence for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.
When he escaped, Macias Villamar was also considered a suspect in ordering the assassination of presidential candidate and anti-corruption crusader Fernando Villavicencio.
In the hours after the drug lord's escape, prison riots broke out and four police officers were taken hostage, where one was forced to read a threatening message to Noboa.
Armed men wearing balaclavas also took over a television station during a live broadcast, forcing the terrified crew to the ground and firing shots.
Soon after, Noboa announced the country was in a state of "internal armed conflict" and ordered the military and tanks into the streets to "neutralize" the gangs.
US prosecutors allege his gang worked with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel to control key drug trafficking routes between South America and the United States.
Ecuador's government had offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture.
If convicted, Fito faces life in prison.
pld/das/sla/mlm/jgc
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
2 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Netanyahu says Israel considering alternatives to ceasefire talks with Hamas, deepening uncertainty
CAIRO (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering 'alternative options' to ceasefire talks with Hamas after Israel and the U.S. recalled their negotiating teams, throwing the future of the negotiations into further uncertainty. Netanyahu's statement came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic. The teams left Qatar on Thursday as President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said Hamas' latest response to proposals for a deal showed a 'lack of desire' to reach a truce. Witkoff said the U.S. will look at 'alternative options," without elaborating. In a statement released by his office, Netanyahu echoed Witkoff, saying, "Hamas is the obstacle to a hostage release deal.' 'Together with our U.S. allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas's terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region,' he said. He did not elaborate. Israel's government didn't immediately respond to whether negotiations would resume next week. A breakthrough on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas has eluded the Trump administration as humanitarian conditions worsen in Gaza. Israel has come under mounting pressure as hunger among Gaza's more than 2 million people has worsened and deaths related to malnutrition have accelerated. In recent days more then two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel's blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out. The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food. On Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize Palestine as a state, saying, 'The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved.″ Hamas official Bassem Naim said Friday that he was told the Israeli delegation returned home for consultations and would return early next week to resume ceasefire negotiations. Hamas said that Witkoff's remarks were meant to pressure the group for Netanyahu's benefit during the next round of talks and that in recent days negotiations had made progress. Naim said several gaps had been nearly solved, such as the agenda of the ceasefire, guarantees to continue negotiating to reach a permanent agreement and how humanitarian aid would be delivered. The sides have held weeks of talks in Qatar, reporting small signs of progress but no major breakthroughs. Officials have said a main sticking point is the redeployment of Israeli troops after any ceasefire takes place. The deal under discussion is expected to include an initial 60-day ceasefire in which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and the remains of 18 others in phases in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Aid supplies would be ramped up, and the two sides would hold negotiations on a lasting ceasefire. The talks have been bogged down over competing demands for ending the war. Hamas says it will only release all hostages in exchange for a full Israeli withdrawal and end to the war. Israel says it will not agree to end the conflict until Hamas gives up power and disarms. The militant group says it is prepared to leave power but not surrender its weapons. Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in different locations, including tunnels, and says it has ordered its guards to kill them if Israeli forces approach. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza but fewer than half are believed to be alive. Their families say the start-stop talks are excruciating. 'I thought that maybe something will come from the time that the negotiation, Israeli team were in Doha," said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is being held hostage. "And when I heard that they're coming back, I ask myself: When will this nightmare end?' At least 22 people were killed since Thursday night, according to hospital records at Nasser Hospital where the bodies arrived. Some were killed in strikes, others and others were killed while seeking aid, said the hospital. ——-
New York Post
2 minutes ago
- New York Post
Arizona woman who admitted to helping North Korean tech workers infiltrate US companies gets prison time
An Arizona woman is headed to prison for nearly a decade after perpetuating a fraudulent foreign worker scam that benefited the North Korean government. Christina Marie Chapman, 50, was sentenced to 102 months in a federal lockup for an elaborate scheme that involved helping North Korean residents pose as US citizens and helping them get remote IT jobs at 309 American companies, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Advertisement The identities of 68 Americans were stolen in the process. Chapman's scam generated more than $17 million for herself and the government of North Korea and was perpetuated from 2020 to 2023. In furtherance of the operation, Chapman received and hosted laptops in her home from the companies she defrauded, which included a Fortune 500 company, a major TV network, a Silicon Valley tech company and others. Those companies believed they had hired the Americans whose identities Chapman stole. Advertisement 5 Christina Marie Chapman was sentenced to 102 months in a federal lockup for an elaborate scheme that involved helping North Korean residents pose as US citizens. USDC for the District of Arizona 5 Chapman's home where a search warrant was executed in November 2023. USDC for the District of Arizona 5 A South Carolina drivers license Chapman used in the scheme. Department of Justice Instead, the workers were North Koreans barred from working in the US. Advertisement According to the DOJ, Chapman shipped 49 devices to a Chinese city that borders North Korea. More than 90 laptops were recovered from her home upon the execution of a search warrant in 2023. She pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. 5 More than 90 laptops were recovered from her home upon the execution of a search warrant in 2023. Advertisement 5 A screenshot from a TikTok video posted by Chapman. Along with the prison sentence, she is required to forfeit $284,556 that was to be paid to the North Koreans and pay a judgment of $176,850. 'North Korea is not just a threat to the homeland from afar. It is an enemy within. It is perpetrating fraud on American citizens, American companies and American banks. It is a threat to Main Street in every sense of the word,' US Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro said. 'The North Korean regime has generated millions of dollars for its nuclear weapons program by victimizing American citizens, businesses and financial institutions,' added FBI Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Roman Rozhavsky. 'However, even an adversary as sophisticated as the North Korean government can't succeed without the assistance of willing US citizens like Christina Chapman, who was sentenced today for her role in an elaborate scheme to defraud more than 300 American companies by helping North Korean IT workers gain virtual employment and launder the money they earned.'
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
War with China ‘would result in large-scale casualties,' Army general says
The number of casualties the U.S. military would suffer in a war against China could be unlike anything it has experienced during the post-9/11 wars, said Lt. Gen. Joel 'JB' Vowell, deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Pacific. 'Our assumptions for planning is that casualty estimates will be much higher than you might have seen or witnessed as part of the Global War on Terror between Iraq and Afghanistan and other places where there are very small numbers, relatively in contacts who were who were killed and injured, as compared to large-scale combat operations,' Vowell recently told reporters. 'A potential conflict with the People's Republic of China likely would result in large-scale casualties.' China has a growing arsenal of hypersonic missiles and other advanced weapons that could pose a major threat to U.S. ships, including aircraft carriers, which can have a crew of up to 5,000 sailors and Marines. 'Those potential casualties are there, so we have to calculate that mass casualty event,' Vowell told reporters at a July 22 Defense Writers Group event, which is based at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, has conducted 50 war games in recent years looking at a possible Chinese invasion or blockade of Taiwan that estimated between 9,500 to 21,000 U.S. troops would be killed and wounded, and that the American military would lose dozens of ships and hundreds of planes, said retired Marine Corps Col. Mark Cancian, a senior advisor with the think tank. The reason the casualty numbers are not higher is the scenarios did not envision U.S. troops being involved in ground combat, Cancian told Task & Purpose. Taiwanese ground forces fought Chinese troops in these wargames. U.S. casualties would likely run higher if American ground troops were tasked with defending Taiwan or recapturing lost allied territories, such as Matsu and Kinmen islands, which are governed by Taiwan, he said. Top Stories This Week News The Army has a novel solution to its drone problem: Shoot them with tanks The Army has a novel solution to its drone problem: Shoot them with tanks By Matt White Culture An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. An Army pilot and mechanic switched units for a week. Here's how that went. By Patty Nieberg News Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death Air Force Global Strike Command suspends use of M18 pistol after airman's death By Jeff Schogol While tens of thousands of U.S. troops were injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, they frequently received life-saving care quickly. Air superiority often allowed U.S. military helicopters to evacuate service members to Combat Support Hospitals and Forward Surgical Teams with the 'golden hour' — or 60 minutes from being wounded. Far more service members would be wounded and need to be medically evacuated in a conflict with China than the U.S. military has had to deal with during the Global War on Terrorism, Vowell said. 'It's not a simple problem of the golden hour,' he said, adding that instead of the U.S. military having to transport one or two service members wounded by an improvised explosive device to surgical teams,'It'll be hundreds.' To treat the casualties from a war with China, the U.S. military would likely need to partner with other countries, deploy updated versions of Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals in forward areas, and transport patients out of the region for surgical care, Vowell said. But evacuating casualties from the Western Pacific to advanced trauma centers far from the front lines would be a 'huge challenge' given the vastness of the Indo-Pacific region, Vowell said. 'And I'll be honest, I don't know if we have the full answer on it,' he added. Manila in the Philippines is about 7,400 miles from San Diego. That's more than twice the distance between New York and London, Vowell said. It is even further to get from the Arctic Circle to New Zealand. Exacerbating the problems of transporting wounded troops such long distances, China can keep combat zones under persistent surveillance and strike U.S. ships and airfields, he said. In addition to evacuating wounded troops, bringing fallen service members home could also prove to be difficult, said Vowell, who noted that more than 17,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who were killed in World War II are interred at Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. 'That's why we have overseas cemeteries,' Vowell said. 'We don't want to have to do that again.' All these challenges underscore the scale of how destructive a conflict with China would be, he said. 'And so, the ultimate goal here, ladies and gentlemen, is no war,' Vowell said. 'It would be catastrophic on a humanitarian scale, civilians, military alike. It'd be catastrophic on a global economic scale. And so medically, we practice what to do to protect and to triage and to evacuate our soldiers, I think we've got work to do there.'
