It is the story of a drug trafficker who spreads so much terror in his country that a state of emergency is declared. In a decree published this Tuesday, the third day of the security crisis, President Daniel Noboa ordered “the mobilization and intervention of the armed forces and the national police” in order to “assign sovereignty and national integrity against organized crime, terrorist organizations and non-governmental organizations guarantee”. state warring parties.
Daniel Noboa, 36, the youngest president in the country's history and elected in November on a promise to restore security, declared a 60-day state of emergency across the country on Monday, a day after a feared gang leader fled. He laid out a comprehensive list of criminal gangs he wants to “neutralize” on Tuesday and stressed the need for the armed forces to act “with respect for human rights.”
Ecuador, population 18 million and once an oasis of peace, is wracked by violence after becoming the main exporter of cocaine from neighboring Peru and Colombia. The number of road killings increased by 800% between 2018 and 2023, from 6 to 46 per 100,000 inhabitants. In 2023, 7,800 homicides were recorded and 220 tons of drugs were seized.
Who is Fito, public enemy number 1 in Ecuador?
Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”, 44, leader of the Choneros – a gang that experts say is around 8,000 strong – escaped from the prison in Guayaquil in the southwest of the country on Sunday. On Tuesday, Fabricio Colon Pico, a leader of Los Lobos, another powerful gang, also escaped.
A thin beard, a tight mouth and a dark look are what his wanted poster says: Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito”. He is now Ecuador's most wanted criminal after escaping from prison where he commanded one of the country's largest criminal gangs.
The 44-year-old drug trafficker, who was also pictured with long shaggy hair and a distinctive beard during a recent prison transfer, had been serving a 34-year sentence since 2011 for organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.
Little is known about the current leader of Los Choneros, other than his humble past as a taxi driver and his ability to cause harassment, which led the Ecuadorian government to label him a “criminal with extremely dangerous characteristics.”
In the area of the Guayaquil prison center, with murals to his fame and drawings of weapons, dollars and lions, he was also the leader. Videos show him celebrating inside the prison with musicians and pyrotechnic devices.
Behind the high walls, where the prison administration does not always lay down the laws, to his credit he even recorded a video clip of a “narcorroccido” (popular song in honor of drug traffickers): “El corrido del Leon”.
He appears with a large hat on his head, greeting and laughing with four inmates in the prison yard and petting a fighting cock, to a tune sung notably by his daughter, known as Queen Michelle.
“Fito” exercised “significant internal control over the prison,” the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) emphasized in a 2022 report.
She emphasized that Adolfo Macias and Junior Roldan, another leader of Los Choneros killed in Colombia last year, benefited from “differentiated and preferential treatment by the authorities” in prison.
How did Ecuador get here?
The country, once an oasis of peace in South America, has been plagued by violence, with a murder rate of 46 murders per 100,000 people in 2023, the highest in its history.
Analysts believe that this “extreme” violence in the country intensified under the government of former conservative President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023), who dealt with the criminal gangs behind attacks such as car bombs, shootings or kidnappings.
Each time these gangs attempted to intimidate Ecuadorians, President Lasso responded with violence by placing the country under a state of emergency.
“What we have are three criminal organizations that no longer oppose each other, but that oppose the state, they have a common enemy,” emphasizes César Carrion, researcher at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso) to AFP.
President Noboa, who emerged victorious from a presidential election campaign in which one of the main candidates was assassinated, is taking an even harsher course than his predecessor.
He recently announced the construction of high-security prisons on boats and in the middle of the jungle, the strengthening of the secret service and border control, and the planned expulsion of more than a thousand foreign prisoners.
The youngest president in Ecuador's history promised an end to the era in which criminals “dictated to the government what to do” and took steps to “take back control” of prisons.
“The iron fist is now being used explicitly and with great legitimacy by the population because they are exhausted and can no longer take it,” analyzes César Carrion.
Rise and fragmentation
The name “Fito” has made headlines in recent months after one of the main candidates in the presidential election was assassinated in early August. Fernando Villavicencio, a former journalist and parliamentarian who was killed by a Colombian hitman, reported receiving death threats from the leader of the Choneros shortly before his execution.
In the world of “Fito” the saying goes: “The king is dead, long live the king.” His rise to the top of the gang is due to the successive deaths of previous leaders.
According to the Insight Crime research center, recent leadership changes in Los Choneros “have led to power struggles within the group and its subgroups.” The Tiguerones and the Chone Killers split up and became powerful rivals.
Insight Crime even claims that Los Choneros “gradually lost power to an alliance led by Los Lobos,” whose leader in Quito, Fabricio Colon Pico, also escaped from a prison in Chimborazo province on Tuesday (center), where he had been transferred on charges of plotting to assassinate a prosecutor.
According to the Ecuadorian Organized Crime Observatory, the Choneros have established ties with powerful Colombian (Clan del Golfo) and Mexican (Sinaloa Cartel) criminal organizations and networks in the Balkans.
But on social networks, the Choneros present themselves as benefactors, a kind of Robin Hood, with video clips in which they praise the drug trade.
They threaten journalists online and issue warnings to other rival gangs to the rhythm of urban music. “Choneros, we are lions. Since Uncle Fito controls the neighborhood, we are the bosses,” says one of the many songs on their YouTube channel JF Music Entertainment.
Peru announced Tuesday evening that it had declared a state of emergency and increased surveillance along its more than 1,400 km-long border with Ecuador.
National unity proclaimed
“President Daniel Noboa, you have our full and unconditional support. Please do not give in,” said former socialist president Rafael Correa (2007-2017), who lives in Belgium and supported the presidential election. Daniel Noboa's opponent Luisa Gonzalez. “Today is the time of national unity. Organized crime has declared war on the state and the state must win,” he added in a video broadcast on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Spain said it was following the situation with “concern” and pledged to support “democratic institutions.” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his “confidence” in a “soon return to normality.”
France has advised its nationals to “postpone” travel to Ecuador, known for its Galapagos Islands. China, which has suspended welcoming the public at its embassy and consulate in Ecuador, is “assessing the security situation” and “supporting” the authorities' actions to restore order, a Chinese diplomatic spokesman, Mao Ning, said.
Russia has urged its nationals to “take into account the instability of the situation when considering traveling to Ecuador” and “avoid visiting public places.”
For its part, the United States is “extremely concerned about the violence” and “ready to provide assistance,” said the head of American diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols, on Tuesday. Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru expressed their support for Ecuador.
On Tuesday, gunmen stormed the set of a public television station in Guayaquil and briefly took journalists and station employees hostage.
During filming, these surreal images were broadcast live for several minutes. Until the police apparently intervened and shouted “Police! Police!” shouted.
According to police, no one appears to have been killed or injured in the raid and thirteen attackers were arrested.
After the escape of “Fito”, there were several mutinies and hostage-takings of guards in various prisons, which were spread on social networks through frightening videos that showed the prisoners being threatened with the knives of masked prisoners. On Tuesday, new videos showed the execution of at least two guards by shooting and hanging.
Shops closed
The prison administration reported that 139 staff members were being held hostage in five prisons across the country without commenting on the videos.
With the state of emergency, the army has the authority to maintain order on the streets (with a nightly curfew) and in prisons. However, numerous incidents were reported, including the kidnapping of seven police officers.
In the port city of Guayaquil, where criminal groups are all-powerful, the violence left eight dead and three injured, according to the police chief. Also in Nobol, near Guayaquil, two police officers were “viciously murdered by armed criminals”.
The images spread on social networks and difficult to verify create the impression of chaos spreading to certain places: Molotov cocktail attacks, cars set on fire, random shots at police officers, scenes of panic… The Ministry of Education ordered the closure of all schools in the country on Tuesday evening until Friday.
Since Sunday, security forces have released impressive images from their operations in various prisons, showing hundreds of prisoners in their underwear, with their hands on their heads and lying on the floor.
The perpetrators committed “bloody and unprecedented acts in the history of the country (…), but this attempt will fail,” said Admiral Jaime Vela, head of the joint command of the armed forces.