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Ecuadorian drug lord "Fito" extradited to US

2025-07-21 08:12:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ecuadorian drug lord "Fito" extradited to US

The powerful leader of an Ecuadorian gang, Adolfo Macías Villamar, has been extradited to the United States to face charges of drug and arms trafficking.

Known as "Fito," he was recaptured in June, almost a year after escaping from a maximum-security prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for a series of crimes.

He will appear in a US federal court on Monday, where he will plead not guilty to international drug and arms trafficking charges, his lawyer told Reuters.

Macías was the leader of the Los Choneros gang, which is linked to powerful criminal organizations from Mexico and the Balkans. He is also suspected of ordering the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.

Los Choneros are blamed for transforming Ecuador from a tourist paradise into a country with one of the highest murder rates in the region.

More than 70% of all cocaine produced in the world currently passes through Ecuador's ports. The country is located between the world's two main cocaine exporters, Colombia and Peru.

In June, police tracked Macías to what they described as an underground bunker beneath a luxury home in the city of Manta. He was taken to La Roca, a maximum-security prison. At the time, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa praised security forces for his capture and said he would be extradited to the United States.

The country's prison authority said he was taken from prison in Ecuador earlier Sunday to be handed over to US authorities.

"Mr. Macías and I will appear tomorrow in federal court in Brooklyn... where he will plead not guilty," his lawyer, Alexei Schacht, told Reuters. "After that, he will be held in a jail to be determined for an indefinite period."

Ecuadorians voted in favor of allowing the extradition of citizens in a referendum called by President Noboa, who vowed to crack down on rising crime.

In March this year, Noboa told the BBC that he wants the American, European and Brazilian militaries to join his "war" against criminal gangs./ CNA

 





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