Hunt for escaped drug kingpins as Ecuador descends into chaos and gang violence
Two of South America’s notorious crime bosses were last night at the centre of a military manhunt after deadly violence erupted following their escape from jails in Ecuador.
The nation is reeling from attacks such as armed thugs taking TV hosts hostage while they were on air. Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macías, alias Fito, was sprung from his cell on Sunday. Two days later, rival drug lord Fabricio Colón Pico, of the Los Lobos group, escaped from a different jail.
Officials say there have been over 30 attacks by gangs since the breakouts, with at least 10 people dead. President Daniel Noboa has declared a state of emergency. Fito, who was convicted of drug trafficking and murder, was serving a 36-year sentence.
He escaped from a prison in the port city of Guayaquil hours before he was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security facility. Two guards have been charged in connection with the jailbreak.
He also escaped a prison in 2013, but was caught weeks later. Then in 2021, his girlfriend Verónica Briones Zambrano was arrested after spending a week in his cell. Officer said she was nabbed while in a guard’s uniform as she tried to leave the jail during a riot. Fito’s rival Colón Pico escaped a prison in the town of Riobamba days after being captured as part of a kidnap probe.
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The leader of the powerful Los Choneros gang, Jose Adolfo Macias, alias 'Fito' (Ecuadorean Armed Forces)The man known as Capitán Pico has also been accused of trying to murder a leading prosecutor. Government minister Roberto Izurieta said: “Those two fugitives are on the run because the safe place they had was no longer safe.”
The spike in gang violence is mostly linked to drug trafficking. The crisis is a test for President Noboa, 36, elected last year pledging to fight drug-related violence. He has ordered military operations against the gangs he described as “terrorist organisations”.
The attacks in recent days include an explosion near the house of the National Justice Court president. And four police officers were kidnapped on Monday night – one in the capital, Quito, and three in Quevedo City. A video shows three of the police having a gun pointed at them as one was forced to read a statement addressed to President Noboa. The terrified officer read: “You declared war, you will get war. You declared a state of emergency. We declare police, civilians and soldiers to be the spoils of war.”
The statement said anyone seen on the street after 11pm “will be executed”. The video sparked panic. Rear Admiral Jaime Vela Erazo, chief of the armed forces, said the 20-plus gangs involved in the violence they are now “military objectives.”
Suspects were detained by police at the TV studio (Ecuador´s National Police/AFP vi)He added: “They have unleashed a wave of violence to frighten the population. He described the attacks as “unprecedented” in Ecuador, adding that the violence “will fail”. Located between Peru and Colombia, the world’s largest cocaine producers, Ecuador has become a key transit point for the drug. Drug gangs fight each other and the government for control of smuggling routes.
Brian Nichols, Washington’s top US diplomat for Latin America, said the US is “extremely concerned” by the violence. Even though gangs in Ecuador assassinated presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, an anti-corruption campaigner, last year and set off car bombs near government buildings, the storming of the TV station marked a new peak in violence, according to Will Freeman at US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations.
He said: “Depending on how the government responds, it will set the precedent for these incidents to continue, or it will use this as a catalyst and make very necessary structural reforms so the state can start to win its war against crime.” One of the gunmen said during the attack at the TC Television studios: “We are on air, so you know that you cannot play with the mafia.”
While exchanging gunfire with police, the thugs took presenters and staff hostage. The nation descended into chaos including thousands of inmates staging uprisings in jails. Police said they arrested 13 people after the storming of the TV studio in Guayaquil. Officers added they seized weapons and explosives and that the hostages were taken to safety.
Alina Manrique, the head of news for TC Television, said after being taken hostage: “They aimed the gun at my head. I thought about my entire life, about my two children. Everything has collapsed... It’s time to leave this country.”
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