Up to six prisons in the country registered prison riots a few hours after the feared leader of the criminal gang 'Los Choneros' began his escape. The situation has put the new Government of Daniel Noboa on the ropes, who has implemented his first curfew to control the situation and locate the fugitive.
The security crisis continues to hit Ecuador. Just one day after Osé Adolfo Macías Salazar, alias 'Fito', disappeared from his prison, the Government of Daniel Noboa decreed a state of emergency for 60 days to be able to locate him and after six prison riots occurred. The state of exception will allow the Armed Forces to act, in support of the Police, to control prisons, as they have done on previous occasions.
“I have just signed the state of emergency decree so that the Armed Forces have all the political and legal support for their actions,” Noboa said in a message through the social network Instagram.
The president blamed drug trafficking gangs, hitmen and organized crime for being behind the prison crisis that has been established in the country for some years. Noboa reaffirmed his intentions to “not negotiate” with these gangs to reduce violence. All this at a time when one of the country's most important criminals is on the run.
The Police and the Armed Forces of Ecuador have spared no effort to find the whereabouts of José Adolfo Macías Salazar, alias 'Fito'. The Government announced a deployment of more than 3,000 uniformed personnel with specialized investigation for the search.
“The search continues. The decision was that this subject be in another prison so that he does not continue operating (…) The most likely thing is that information was leaked hours before,” said the Secretary of Communication, Roberto Izurieta, to local media this Monday, December 8.
Without giving many details of the investigation, Izurieta told the local Teleamazonas network that the operation continues, taking into account that it is a “special operation that includes characteristics of some of these criminals who are almost terrorists,” he stated, and also assured in his statements that he is confident that the search will end “successfully.”
That is, the Ecuadorian Government sought to transfer Macías to another prison where he would have less “debauchery,” as Izurieta explained, but after the failed process none of the authorities gave statements as to when exactly the criminal leader disappeared.
And it was exactly on August 12, 2023 when the Government, then in the hands of President Guillermo Lasso, decided to deploy an extensive police and military operation in which 'Fito' was also transferred along with other high-level prisoners. risky.
Lasso said at that time that the transfer, which took place from the Guayaquil regional prison to the La Roca penitentiary center, was as a “security measure for the citizens.”
A transfer that was not, because almost 30 days later, the guarantee judge, Diego Poma, reversed the decision and ordered Macías' return to the Guayaquil regional prison, from where he escaped this Sunday, December 7.
The judge's decision was highly questioned by politicians and public opinion within Ecuador, since not many arguments were established for 'Fito' to stay in Guayaquil.
“Alias Fito, the most dangerous criminal, who was left in jail, escapes (all the others have been murdered or given pre-release),” wrote in his X account José Serrano, who was Minister of the Interior during the Government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017).
“The cell or 'suite' in which Fito 'stayed' was found impeccably 'clean', there was time to 'pack' all the criminal's belongings, including watches, weapons, whiskey, cell phones, laptop… he took everything, because he said he wasn't coming back,” Serrano added.
The leader of 'Los Choneros'
This is one of the largest criminal gangs in Ecuador, which allegedly has links with Mexican cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel, or even with the Oliver Sinisterra Front (FOS) of Colombia, with whom it is estimated that it has shared maritime trafficking operations of drugs to the United States.
The criminal group, which dates back to the 1990s with the coastal city of Chone as the cradle of its birth, has also promoted micro-drug trafficking, smuggling, extortion and contract killings, which further complicates the delicate situation in the country and the riots inside the prisons.
Since 2011 the gang was decimated by the imprisonment of many of its leaders by the authorities, and since then the objectives of the criminal group began to focus on the streets, smaller scale crimes and the focus on gangs, according to the specialized site Insight Crime.
Ecuador: 2023, a year in which the country looked into the abyss
According to the National Police, 'Los Choneros' are currently in conflict with 'Los Lobos' and 'Los Tiguerones', in the midst of disputes in which citizens end up involved.
Several international reports consulted by CNN or EL PAÍS show that this criminal gang has used one of the main drug routes that crosses the Pacific. The route runs into Ecuador, which concentrates 74% of the cocaine that reaches Central and North America, according to the independent network of investigative journalists Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
With Reuters and local media.
#Ecuador #declares #state #emergency #prison #riots #escape #criminal #alias #39Fito39
