Ecuador Captures Most Wanted Drug Lord in Secret Bunker

Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as Fito, Ecuador's most wanted drug lord and leader of the violent Los Choneros gang, was captured after hiding in a secret underground bunker beneath a luxury home in Manta. Fito escaped from a Guayaquil prison in January 2024 with the help of two guards, sparking riots and a national state of emergency declared by President Daniel Noboa. Fito is suspected of ordering the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023 and has maintained control over Los Choneros from prison, forming alliances with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and introducing brutal tactics such as decapitation to Ecuador. The 10-hour police and military operation to apprehend him ended without resistance, and Fito was returned to the maximum-security La Roca prison. President Noboa praised the security forces and announced plans to extradite Fito to the United States on drug trafficking charges, attributing the capture to new solidarity and intelligence laws that expand intelligence authority in Ecuador. The gang Los Choneros is officially labeled as a terrorist organization by Ecuador and one of the most violent gangs globally by the U.S.