International Convicted leader of powerful drug gang vanishes from Ecuador prison

[LeonardoBjj]

Authorities are trying to locate Adolfo ‘Fito’ Macías, the leader of Los Choneros, after he went missing from his cell on Sunday

A convicted leader of one of the most powerful drug gangs in Ecuador has vanished from the prison where he was serving his sentence, and authorities are investigating whether he escaped like he did a decade ago from another facility.

Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito” and leader of Los Choneros gang, was reported as missing from his cell on Sunday, and on Monday morning, authorities in the South American country had still not found him or offered an explanation for his disappearance.

César Zapata, general commander of the national police, told the media on Sunday night that Macías had disappeared from his cell and that they were investigating.

Ecuador’s prosecutors office tweeted on Sunday that it was investigating the case as a probable “prisoner’s escape”.

Macías was convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. He was serving a 34-year sentence in La Regional prison at the port of Guayaquil, and he was scheduled to be transferred on Sunday to a maximum security facility in the same city.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs considered by authorities as responsible for a surge in violence that reached a new level last year with the assassination of the presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The gang has links with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, according to authorities.

Before his death, the politician said the crime faction had threatened him, but so far authorities have not directly accused Macías or his group of being behind Villavicencio’s murder.

Days after Villavicencio’s killing, Macías was moved out of La Regional to the maximum security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in Guayaquil, but he was returned to the same lighter security prison within less than a month without any explanation.

In February 2013, “Fito” fled from a maximum security facility, but he was recaptured a few weeks later.

Los Choneros and other similar groups linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels are fighting over drug trafficking routes and control of territory, including from within detention facilities, where at least 400 inmates have died since 2021, according to authorities.

Experts and authorities have acknowledged that gang members practically rule from inside the prisons, and Macías is believed to have kept controlling his group from within the detention facility.

President Daniel Noboa, an heir to a fortune built on the banana trade, took over in November saying his government’s main objective was to reduce violence.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/08/ecuador-adolfo-macias-fito-missing-gang-leader

 

[mixmastermo]

 

[zapataxiv]

Lol damn historia name is literally Hitler

 

[nhbbear]

@LeonardoBjj this is crazy, but I expect it in central and especially South America where the drug cartels rule over corrupt officials and rule with fear. Look at pablo escobar’s reign. He did whatever he wanted and officials were either too corrupt or too scared/dead to do anything to him. Mexico is terrible for this. These gangs need eradicated with extreme prejudice

 

[LeonardoBjj]

@LeonardoBjj this is crazy, but I expect it in central and especially South America where the drug cartels rule over corrupt officials and rule with fear. Look at pablo escobar’s reign. He did whatever he wanted and officials were either too corrupt or too scared/dead to do anything to him. Mexico is terrible for this. These gangs need eradicated with extreme prejudice

- I doubt they will solve this. Poor people in some of those countrys, dont have any hope of a better life for them or their families.

The most important thing for a man is his family, criminals are the same thing here. They dont care about their own lives, but they care about their loved ones.

As long as there no hope of a better life, those guys will be willing to die, to challenge the status quo.

 

[Zer]

@LeonardoBjj this is crazy, but I expect it in central and especially South America where the drug cartels rule over corrupt officials and rule with fear. Look at pablo escobar’s reign. He did whatever he wanted and officials were either too corrupt or too scared/dead to do anything to him. Mexico is terrible for this. These gangs need eradicated with extreme prejudice

If you read some books by Anabel Hernandez, like Narcoland, it's amazing the levels of corruption you see in places like Mexico. She drops name after name after name from all levels of authority and government who've supported the rise of narcos like El Chapo. It's amazing she hasn't been killed tbh, and I know she has to travel with armed security at all times. She's a badass

When you read things like court transcripts where narcos are being asked about their finances, often they say their greatest expense is bribes. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars just on bribery

 

[nhbbear]

If you read some books by Anabel Hernandez, like Narcoland, it's amazing the levels of corruption you see in places like Mexico. She drops name after name after name from all levels of authority and government who've supported the rise of narcos like El Chapo. It's amazing she hasn't been killed tbh, and I know she has to travel with armed security at all times. She's a badass

When you read things like court transcripts where narcos are being asked about their finances, often they say their greatest expense is bribes. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars just on bribery

And one of their biggest problems is what to do with all the money they have. Hiding it in walls or bunkers-more than they could spend. As for the bribes, it’s the cost of doing business but the people they bribe to look the other way or to help them escape prison is still nothing compared to the money they have rolling in. And those they bribe don’t really have a choice. They’re barely paid by their day jobs and it’s either accept what the cartel gives you or end up hanging from a light pole with your intestines hanging from your eviscerated guts

 

[Scerpi]

@LeonardoBjj this is crazy, but I expect it in central and especially South America where the drug cartels rule over corrupt officials and rule with fear. Look at pablo escobar’s reign. He did whatever he wanted and officials were either too corrupt or too scared/dead to do anything to him. Mexico is terrible for this. These gangs need eradicated with extreme prejudice

The Mexican Cartels have great pay and benefits...

But their retirement program is complete garbage

 

[Scerpi]

If you read some books by Anabel Hernandez, like Narcoland, it's amazing the levels of corruption you see in places like Mexico. She drops name after name after name from all levels of authority and government who've supported the rise of narcos like El Chapo. It's amazing she hasn't been killed tbh, and I know she has to travel with armed security at all times. She's a badass

When you read things like court transcripts where narcos are being asked about their finances, often they say their greatest expense is bribes. They spend hundreds of millions of dollars just on bribery

Silver or Lead

 

[nhbbear]

The Mexican Cartels have great pay and benefits...

But their retirement program is complete garbage

Yeah, sometimes they leaving you hanging

 

[LeonardoBjj]

And one of their biggest problems is what to do with all the money they have. Hiding it in walls or bunkers-more than they could spend. As for the bribes, it’s the cost of doing business but the people they bribe to look the other way or to help them escape prison is still nothing compared to the money they have rolling in. And those they bribe don’t really have a choice. They’re barely paid by their day jobs and it’s either accept what the cartel gives you or end up hanging from a light pole with your intestines hanging from your eviscerated guts

- They have top political figures in their pockets. Or they're in the pockets of top political figures.

Also they have a certain level of honour and gratitude. I dont know about the other contries in S America, but here in Brasil if you aprend a drug-dealer or criminal(of course its varies from criminal), they wound not attack your family or even you, if you are uprotected.



Of course, that working in a uniform can also make you a target!

 

[cottagecheesefan]

Does this have anything to do with gunman over taking a TV studio?

I saw a couple viral clips of that unfolding, but then work got busy and havent looked into it more

edit: also just saw what seems to be prison guards being executed. Checked and no killing in these videos

President announces state of armed conflict

 

[cottagecheesefan]

Hmm, are they scared of the new far-right president's promise to crack down on them El Salvadorian style?

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the studio of a public television station on Tuesday in Ecuador's drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil, taking hostage several journalists and staff members, live footage showed.

"Don't shoot, please don't shoot," one woman shouted as gunshots rang out while the attackers, carrying rifles and grenades, forced terrified crew of the TC broadcaster onto the ground.

"National Police units in Quito and Guayaquil have been alerted about this criminal act and are already on the scene," police said in a brief statement to journalists.

The live broadcast continued uninterrupted, although lights went off on set. About 30 minutes after the gunmen appeared, police could be seen entering.

"Police, police," called out one man in uniform. "We have a wounded colleague," a man replied.

"Please, they came in to kill us. God don't let this happen. The criminals are on air," one of the journalists told AFP in a WhatsApp message.

The incident came as Ecuador's new president, 36-year-old Daniel Noboa, grappled with a security nightmare after the escape from prison of one of the country's most high profile gangsters, Jose Adolfo Macias, known as "Fito."

Noboa declared a 60-day countrywide state of emergency Monday, including in Ecuador's notoriously violent prisons, and imposed a nighttime curfew.

In response, gangsters took several police officers hostage, and released a chilling video in which one of them was forced to read out a message addressed to Noboa.

"You declared war, you will get war," the clearly terrified officer reads. "You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war."

Noboa was elected in October on a pledge to fight rampant drug-related crime and violence in the South American country -- once considered a bastion of peace, but now a key stop on the US- and Europe-bound cocaine trade.

https://www.france24.com/en/america...or-tv-studio-threaten-journalists-live-on-air

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Ecuador declares ‘internal armed conflict’ as hooded men take over live TV broadcast​

By Ana María Cañizares, Abel Alvarado, Michael Rios, AnneClaire Stapleton and Tara John, CNN

QuitoCNN — Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has declared an “internal armed conflict” in the country, ordering security forces to “neutralize” several criminal groups accused of spreading extreme violence in Ecuador.

The decree came shortly after hooded and armed men interrupted a live television broadcast – one of several violent incidents playing out across the country on Tuesday. Local media outlets have also reported armed individuals at the Maldonado Hospital and the University of Guayaquil.

The hooded men forced the staff of the Guayaquil-based TC Television onto the floor of the studio as shots and yelling were heard in the background, social media video showed of the incident at the state-owned network.

Ecuador’s National Police said that “specialized units” had responded to the emergency at the media station and arrested “several subjects.” In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, it added that members of the media outlet had been evacuated. It posted pictures of multiple individuals faced down with their hands zip-tied behind their backs.

The country has been rocked by explosions, police kidnappings, and prison disturbances since Noboa on Monday declared a nationwide state of emergency after high-profile gang leader Adolfo “Fito” Macias escaped from a prison in Guayaquil.

At least seven police agents have been kidnapped in three different cities, according to a post on X by the National Police. The spiraling violence is the most extreme test yet for the new president, who won last year’s run-off vote with promises to tackle soaring crime.

The country’s worsening security situation is largely driven by rival criminal organizations, which have been meting out brutal and often public shows of violence in the country’s streets and prisons in their battle to control drug trafficking routes.

In one of the kidnappings this week, in which three agents were taken, an explosive device had been “placed and detonated” in a vehicle the officers were moving in, police said.

In Esmeraldas, in the northwest of the country, two vehicles were set on fire with one causing a blaze at a gas station.

In the capital Quito, the police found a burned vehicle with traces of gas cylinders inside. Residents reported on social media that they had heard a loud explosion in the area.

Police also said they had received reports of an explosion at a pedestrian bridge outside Quito and attended “over 20 emergencies during (Monday) evening and overnight (Tuesday) in different parts of the country. There are currently no known casualties related to the explosions.

Prison chaos​

Ecuador’s penitentiary service, the SNAI, said that at least six incidents took place inside prison facilities Monday, including disturbances and retention of penitentiary agents. This situation in the prisons, they say, has not been controlled.

Meanwhile, another alleged gang leader, Fabricio Colon Pico, escaped from a prison in Riobamba in the last few hours, according to the city’s mayor Jhon Vinueza.

Colon Pico had been captured last Friday after being publicly identified by Ecuador’s Attorney General Diana Salazar as being part of a plan to attack her. Along with Colon Pico, 38 other inmates escaped, of which 12 have been recaptured, the SNAI told CNN.

Ecuador’s Armed Forces said they carried out control operations Monday night and early Tuesday in the most conflict-ridden areas.

On the political side, Ecuador’s National Assembly is holding an emergency meeting to “generate concrete actions in face of the national commotion and multiple acts that threaten public peace.”

The search for Adolfo Macias, more popularly known by his alias “Fito,” continued as more than 3,000 police officers and members of the armed forces have been deployed to find him, the government said on Sunday. Ecuador authorities said they have not yet pinpointed the exact time and date that Macias escaped prison.

Macías is the leader of Los Choneros, one of Ecuador’s most feared gangs, which has been linked to maritime drug trafficking to Mexico and the US in coordination with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and the Oliver Sinisterra Front in Colombia, according to the Insight Crime research center.

He was jailed after being convicted of drug trafficking. Before his assassination, the late Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio said in July that he had been threatened by Macías and warned against continuing with his campaign against gang violence for the leadership.



https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/09/americas/armed-men-interrupt-live-tv-ecuador-intl/index.html

 

[nhbbear]

- They have top political figures in their pockets. Or they're in the pockets of top political figures.

Also they have a certain level of honour and gratitude. I dont know about the other contries in S America, but here in Brasil if you aprend a drug-dealer or criminal(of course its varies from criminal), they wound not attack your family or even you, if you are uprotected.



Of course, that working in a uniform can also make you a target!

Yeah, no way would I be a cop south of the US. These governments really need to wipe these dangerous cartels out

 

[nhbbear]

- They have top political figures in their pockets. Or they're in the pockets of top political figures.

Also they have a certain level of honour and gratitude. I dont know about the other contries in S America, but here in Brasil if you aprend a drug-dealer or criminal(of course its varies from criminal), they wound not attack your family or even you, if you are uprotected.



Of course, that working in a uniform can

Sorry, double post

 

[cottagecheesefan]

Bro, this is directly related to your other thread, no need for two. Posted a some footage from today, it isn't just the TV studio. Seems they are taking hostages at several institutions

 

[cottagecheesefan]

The gunmen at the TV studio already arrested, not sure about the other locations. Searching for footage is dominated by just a few clips

 

[LeonardoBjj]

Bro, this is directly related to your other thread, no need for two. Posted a some footage from today, it isn't just the TV studio. Seems they are taking hostages at several institutions

- Sorry.""