'Fito' and 'Capitán Pico', the escaped criminals who threaten security in Ecuador

The day of terror experienced in Ecuador this week with the takeover of a television channel and riots with hostages in prisons was preceded by the escapes of José Adolfo Macías, 'Fito', the boss of 'Los Choneros'and of Fabricio Colón Pico, leader of 'Los Lobos'the most numerous criminal gangs in the country and the most violent.

(Also: Ecuador: President Daniel Noboa proposes raising VAT in the midst of the conflict with gangs).

The last public image we have of 'Fito' is with abundant hair and a copious, scruffy beard with which he seeks to resemble a lion, with which he and, therefore, the rest of 'Los Choneros' identify, a gang dedicated, according to authorities, to transport cocaine produced in Colombia and take it into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

According to the same authorities, 'Los Choneros', who were born in the coastal city of Manta in the 90s, currently have about 8,000 members and are dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, hitmen and arms trafficking, among other crimes. although they deny being behind this week's violent episodes.

This is the second time that 'Fito' mocks Ecuador's prison system, as he also did it in 2013, when he escaped from La Roca prison, in Guayaquil, after having been sentenced in 2011 to 34 years in prison for crimes. such as drug trafficking, murder and organized crime.

(You can read: President of Ecuador: Colombian prisoners 'we must leave them at the border').

That time he accompanied José Luis Zambrano, alias 'Rasquiña', the then boss of 'Los Choneros', but both were recaptured months later, and since then the power of 'Fito' within the gang increased as other ringleaders were murdered, like 'Rasquiña' himself in 2020 or Junior Roldán, 'JR', murdered last year in Colombia.

Little else is known about the leader of 'Los Choneros' other than his humble past and as a taxi driver, In addition to his ability to break the law, he is classified by the government as a “criminal with extremely dangerous characteristics.”

(Also read: They are investigating whether 'Fito', the boss who unleashed chaos in Ecuador, entered Colombia).

The alarms about his unknown whereabouts went off on Sunday, when uniformed officers in an operation noticed his absence. The government believes that he was able to escape “hours before” the police intervention in the Guayaquil Regional Prison, where he was the boss.

'Fito' exercised “significant internal control of the penitentiary center,” said the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in a 2022 report made after a meeting with the kingpin.

(We recommend: How did Ecuador come to be in check due to criminal gangs?).

Proof of the comfortable life he led in prison – where he graduated as a lawyer, in order to seek legal means to be acquitted of the proceedings against him – is that He could celebrate his birthday on September 30 with fireworks, while his cell was a small apartment, with a television, internet modem, and paintings decorating the walls..

This was revealed during one of the interventions carried out by the Police and the Armed Forces at the Guayaquil Regional Prison and other prisons where they seized large arsenals of weapons held by these gangs, especially in the neighboring Litoral Penitentiary.

He even recorded a video clip of a 'narcocorrido' in his honor in a patio, titled 'The lion's run', performed by Mariachi Bravo and Queen Michelle (daughter of 'Fito'). The musical piece glorifies the figure of the boss of 'Los Choneros' in the purest style of the Mexican 'narco', by presenting him as a good and honest man, who “is not as they misinform.”

In his lyrics he narrates that 'Fito' has suffered the loss of a brother, the kidnapping of his daughter and an attack against another son, but “he is the boss of bosses”“the leader of 'Los Choneros'”, who along with his brother “takes care of his family like a lion.”

(You can read: Ecuador will require criminal records from foreigners on the border with Colombia).

After the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio last October, the first suspicions focused on him, since the politician and several journalists had reported death threats apparently coming from 'Fito', but the investigations seem to go along different lines.

The justice system has not convicted Fito for that crime, but the government of then-president Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023) ordered his transfer to a maximum security prison, in a spectacular operation by public forces that sparked protests by inmates.

'Fito' returned shortly after to his fiefdom of the Guayaquil Regional Prison through legal resources.

(You can read: Noboa ratifies toughness against 'terrorists' after a criminal leader's request to surrender).

A rise that divided

In Fito's world the saying applies: a dead king is a king. His rise to the top of the band, made up of about 8,000 people, was due to the successive deaths of his predecessors.

He assumed command of the organization in 2020. His rise to the criminal leadership, however, was accompanied by the fragmentation of the gang, which until Rasquiña's death had brought together a good part of smaller organizations.

According to Insight Crime, The latest changes in the leadership of 'Los Choneros' “have motivated internal struggles in the group and its subgroups.” Gangs like Tiguerones and Chone Killers broke away and declared war on them.

The study center points out that 'Los Choneros' “have progressively lost power to an alliance led by the Lobos”, whose leader in Quito also escaped from a prison in Riobamba on Tuesday.

(Also: Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic express support for Ecuador due to the wave of violence).

'Los Choneros' were first dedicated to traditional crime with assaults on the high seas, they achieved links with Colombian and then Mexican drug traffickers. They currently have links with the Sinaloa cartels, the Gulf Clan (the largest cocaine exporter in the world) and Balkan organizations, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory..

On social networks, 'Los Choneros' present themselves as Robin Hood-style do-gooders and produce their own video clips that praise drug trafficking. They threaten journalists and issue warnings to other bands with urban rhythms.

“Activos, Choneros, here we are lions. With Uncle Fito, as supposed, controlling the neighborhood. Here we are bosses,” they say in one of their many songs.

With his new escape, 'Fito' challenged the 'hard hand' that the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, wanted to impose in prisons to isolate the leaders of criminal gangs that dispute control of drug trafficking and other illicit activities. in maximum security prisons or even in barge prisons on the high seas, as promised during the electoral campaign.

In an interview given this Wednesday to Radio CanelaNoboa assured that 'Fito' went in and out of jail whenever he wanted, “like Pedro around his house,” and that, If he did not return this time, it was because of his administration's intention to isolate him in a maximum security prison..

(Also: What is happening in Ecuador? Analysis of a crisis that brings back very sad memories).

Now again his photograph with the legend “Wanted” is circulating around Ecuador, which is bleeding amid clashes unleashed after his escape.

'Captain Pico', the boss of 'Los Lobos'

Fabricio Colón Pico, 'Captain Pico', identified as the leader of the criminal gang 'Los Lobos', and mentioned in an alleged plan to attack the attorney general of that country, Diana Salazar, appeared this week in a video after escaping on Tuesday from a jail in the Andean city of Riobamba, where he was held after being arrested last week.

The arrest occurred in the middle of an investigation into an alleged kidnapping that occurred some time ago, but shortly after Salazar mentioned it in the alleged plan against him.

(You can read: 'Thank God for being alive': Ecuadorian channel journalists narrate their experience).

In the video, which circulates on social networks, Colón Pico introduces himself and points out the date of January 11 before pointing out that he is recording the piece so that Noboa and the citizens can see it, stating that he has “nothing to hide.”.

“I want to surrender, Mr. President, I fled because they told me they were going to kill me, my life is in danger, not for any other reason. Understand, Mr. President, you guarantee my life, that nothing is going to happen to me and I I surrender, Mr. President,” he said. The fugitive from justice assured that he has “nothing to do” with what he is accused of, and he “strongly” asks Noboa to put “his hand on his chest.”

“I have not hidden, I showed my face from the beginning, Mr. President,” concluded who, according to Salazar, would be part of the 'Los Lobos' gang, classified along with other criminal gangs by the Noboa Government as terrorists after the declaration of an “internal armed conflict” in Ecuador.

(You can read: The United States offers its support to Ecuador to confront the growing wave of violence).

However, in a radio interview 'FM World', The Ecuadorian president indicated that, if he so wishes, Colón Pico can surrender. “Imagine, I also have others who have kidnapped 30 people and want to benefit from the Geneva Treaty,” said Noboa when asked about the escaped boss's request.

“Terrorists must be treated as terrorists and we will act firmly. If he wants to surrender, no one is preventing him from surrendering if he wants,” added Noboa, who pointed out that Ecuador “is already fed up with the conditions being set by the “Criminals. Conditions are set by good people, conditions are set by Ecuadorian families, the Government sets them, the State sets them, they are not set by criminals.”

Born as a split from 'Los Choneros', 'Los Lobos' began to expand until they reached Guayaquil, after their area of ​​action was limited to the mountainous and jungle areas of southern Ecuador.

Since 2016, the criminal group and its allies have provided weapons and security for the Mexican cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, which controls part of the cocaine routes in Ecuador, according to the Ecuadorian media Code Vidrio.

(Also: 'Neoliberal policy has built barbarism': President Petro on Ecuador).

However, InsightCrime assures that this gang, together with 'Chone Killer' and 'Los Tiguerones', would have formed another organization called Nueva Generación, which would have perpetrated several attacks against leaders and territories controlled by 'Los Choneros'.

In Colombia, 'Los Lobos' are linked to the 48th Front, one of the dissidents of the demobilized FARC.

WILLIAM MORENO HERNÁNDEZ
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL*With information from AFP and EFE