The criminal groups on which Ecuador declared war: links with Colombian gangs?

Ecuador lived this Tuesday an unprecedented day of terror that included the simultaneous attack by armed groups that frightened the population and attacked streets and shopping centers.

(You can read: Venezuela expresses solidarity with Ecuador in the face of a wave of crime that already leaves 10 dead)

The most alarming event occurred when a group of armed hooded men burst in, while it was being broadcast live, on a television channel in Guayaquil, the second city in the country, now converted into the epicenter of attacks by organized crime groups that The authorities have not hesitated to call them “terrorists.”

(Also: Peru declares an emergency on its border with Ecuador due to a wave of drug violence)

Thus, Ecuador is immersed today in a kind of internal war after the president, Daniel Noboadeclared the existence of an “internal armed conflict” and ordered the Armed Forces to carry out military actions to contain this wave of violence.

In his statement, Noboa set his sights, with his own name, on 22 transnational organized crime groups, gangs that the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Ecuador, Jaime Vela, cataloged hours later. military objective.

(We recommend: 'Fito', the dangerous criminal who escaped from prison and caused chaos in Ecuador)

Ecuador's location, between Colombia and Peru, two of the world's largest drug producers, along with factors such as institutional weakness and economic inequalities have turned that country into a fertile field for organized crime.

What are these groups and what connections do they have particularly with Colombia?

The 22 groups

One of Noboa's provisions this Tuesday was to henceforth identify 22 transnational organized crime groups as terrorist organizations and belligerent non-state actors.

With this recognition and the change in status, Noboa ordered the Armed Forces to carry out military operations, “under international humanitarian law and respecting human rights,” to neutralize them.

(Continue reading: 'We are attentive to all the support that the government of Ecuador requests': President Petro)

These 22 groups are: Águilas, Águilas Killer, AK47, Caballeros Oscuros, Chone Killer, Choneros, Corvicheros, Cuartel de las Feas, Cubanos, Fatales, Gánster, Kater Piler, Lagartos, Latin Kings, Lobos, Los p.27, Los Tiburones , Mafia 18, Mafia Clover, Patterns
R7 and Tiguerones.

Noboa's declaration of war is not entirely new. Since he assumed power in Ecuador last November, the president has set his sights on those 22 structures linked to drug trafficking.

The three main organizations on that list are 'Los Choneros', 'Lobos' and 'Tiguerones'. These groups have alliances with foreign organizations such as the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and coordinate their operation from prison under the complicit gaze of prison guards, especially in Guayaquil, according to complaints from civil organizations.

(You can see: Videos: the day of panic in Ecuador due to the armed takeover of a canal, commerce and universities)

In the Guayaquil prison, precisely, Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, leader of 'Los Choneros', reigned from his cell for 12 years, until he escaped without a single shot on Sunday, which marked the beginning of this new day of violence. .

'Fito' exercised “important internal control of the penitentiary center”, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had warned in a 2022 report after a meeting with the boss. The organization added that Macías and Junior Roldán, another leader of 'Los Choneros' murdered last year in Colombia, had “differential and preferential treatment by the” prison authorities.

(Also: Video: a group of armed criminals took over a live television signal in Ecuador)

And inside the penitentiaries, the prisoners are overcrowded. The IACHR reported in 2022 that the prison population was 36,599 people, when the capacity is 30,169 (21.3 percent overpopulation).

Masters and lords of the prisons, where they guard their arsenals like treasures, prisoners often riot and clashes between gangs end in massacres that have left more than 460 prisoners dead since 2021.

This week, they detained 125 prison guards and 14 administrative officials after 'Fito' escaped, in events that have not yet been linked by the authorities.

The tentacles of the drug trafficker cling to the country's prisons: one in three prisoners has links to drug trafficking, according to independent studies.

Different sources agree that the rise of Ecuadorian criminal megagangs seems to have no brakes and there are those who even claim that they are on their way to becoming drug cartels.

(We explain: War against drug traffickers in Ecuador: what unleashed the crisis and how is it being faced?)

An Ecuadorian official who is dedicated to investigating the evolution of these groups told the digital newspaper Primicias that “'Los Choneros', 'Los Lobos' and even other smaller organizations, such as 'Los Tiguerones' and the 'Chone Killers', are already They are not only armed forces in charge of securing shipments, but They offer express services for the large Mexican and Balkan cartels (the Albanians especially). They already have control of internal routes from the borders to the ports“.

'Los Choneros' and 'Fito'

'Fito' is a key figure in this criminal network. His rise to the top of the 'Los Choneros' organization, made up of about 8,000 people, was due to the successive deaths of his predecessors.

He assumed command of the organization in 2020, after the deaths of his friends Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias 'Rasquiña', and Junior Roldán, 'JR'. But his rise to the criminal leadership was accompanied by the fragmentation of the gang, which until the death of 'Rasquiña' 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 within the group and its subgroups.” Bands like 'Tiguerones' and 'Chone Killers' broke away and declared war on them.

(You can read: Minjusticia spoke about Ecuador's announcement of the mass expulsion of Colombian prisoners)

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 this Tuesday from a prison in Riobamba.

'Los Choneros' – who emerged in the 90s in the city of Chone, in the coastal province of Manabí – were first dedicated to traditional crime with assaults on the high seas, they achieved links with Colombian and then Mexican drug traffickers.

Originally, authorities identified it as an armed wing of a Colombian cartel, which sought to control maritime trafficking routes to Mexico and the United States. But he would also have links with dissidents from the former FARC, whom they would help transport cocaine from Colombia, according to Ecuadorian media.

'Los Choneros' progressively gained power on drug trafficking routes, particularly in the transit of cocaine from Colombia to Central America or North America, according to police reports.

(See also: Video: the chaotic return of Ecuadorians to their homes after a day of terror)

Currently, they are dedicated to drug trafficking, extortion, hitmen and arms trafficking, among other crimes, and have links with the Sinaloa cartels in Mexico, in Colombia with the Gulf Clan (the largest cocaine exporter in the world) and organizations Balkans, according to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory.

The authorities estimate that the illegal operations carried out from prisons leave these types of organizations with profits of around 120 million dollars annually.

'The Wolves'

This Tuesday, the escape of Fabricio Colón Pico was also confirmed, captured after the Attorney General of the Ecuadorian State, Diana Salazar, denounced an alleged plan to attack him.

Salazar identified Colón Pico, known by the alias 'Capitán Pico' and linked to a criminal gang called 'Los Lobos', as the person behind an alleged plan to assassinate her.

(Continue reading: Former President Rafael Correa expresses 'unrestricted support for President Noboa: 'do not give in'')

This criminal gang is considered the second largest in the country after 'Los Choneros', as it is suspected of having about 8,000 members and has also participated in several of the prison riots that in 2022 left more than 400 dead in the countryInsightCrime reported.

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.

(You can read: Government of Ecuador suspends in-person classes after wave of violence in the country)

However, InsightCrime assures that this gang, together with the '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
TIME
*With agency reports