The capture of six Colombians is the first success of the Ecuadorian authorities since the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio on Wednesday. Although he limited himself to reporting that they were “foreigners” at the press conference in which he reported on the arrest, EL PAÍS confirmed his nationality to the Ecuadorian authorities.
The six had been arrested for other offenses a month ago. In the court proceedings that followed, the court did not impose preventive detention on them, but rather required them to appear regularly in court. However, they did not attend the hearing scheduled for August 2, as was their duty, and for this reason the courts issued arrest warrants for them on Wednesday, just two hours before Villavicencio’s murder. They were fugitives in this other case and were arrested by police after several raids in southern Quito.
“In different raids in the Conocoto sector and in the south of the city, 6 people were arrested: Andrés M., José N., Adey G., Camilo R., Jules C., Jhon R., all foreigners,” Interior Minister Juan said Zapata Silva at a press conference. Police also found a rifle with two magazines, a submachine gun, four pistols, three grenades, four boxes of ammunition, two motorcycles and a vehicle reported stolen.
The capture commemorates the involvement of other Colombians in another assassination attempt in the region. It is about the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. 19 former Colombian soldiers were arrested, part of a 22-strong group that first traveled to the Dominican Republic. The remaining three died in an operation by the Haitian police. Those arrested face trial in the Caribbean country, and the investigation has revealed that they were a group of mercenaries whose ultimate destination only the leaders knew, while the lower echelons assumed they were working in the Dominican Republic a team of private security forces.
After decades of internal warfare, Colombia has the second largest army in the region after Brazil and the most experienced army in actual combat. Also dozens of former guerrilla fighters, ex-paramilitaries or members of criminal gangs particularly linked to drug trafficking. This has spawned an industry of Colombian mercenaries ranging from legal retired mercenaries providing security services in Arab countries to assassin cases.
The assassination of Fernando Villavicencio in the capital sparked a nationwide uproar in Ecuador and even greater concern than it already existed. This came just 11 days after the atypical elections of August 20, caused by a political crisis, and when Villavicencio finished fourth or fifth in the polls. It also takes place amid a growing security crisis stemming from a confrontation between Mexican cartels over drug trafficking routes that was initially centered on the coast but has spread to the Andean peaks, affecting the capital Quito. In recent weeks, the mayor of Manta, one of the country’s most important ports, and a candidate for the assembly have been assassinated.
Newsletter
Analysis of current affairs and the best stories from Colombia, every week in your mailbox
GET THIS
Villavicencio, who suggested a strong hand to solve the problem, had received intimidating messages from aka Fito, the leader of the Los Choneros gang, which is in the service of the Sinaloa Cartel. This cartel faces its rival Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, also Mexican. He does this in alliance with the Ecuadorian gangs Chone Killers, Tiguerones and Lobos. Two conflicting videos were released on Thursday evening. In the first case, some gunmen dressed in black and covering their faces, claiming to be from Los Lobos, claimed responsibility for the death and threatened the candidate cops in general and Jan Topic in particular. In the second, other white-clad men pretended to be Los Lobos and denied the first video.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS newsletter on Colombia and receive all the latest information about the country.