Ecuador

The famous drug addict of Ecuador agreed to be extradited to the United States to face charges of cocaine and weapons smuggling, a Quito court said on Friday.

Adolfo Masias, aka “Fito”, outside Captured in June After escaping a maximum security prison last year in a Jailbreak that caused a seriously wave of gang violence.

Macias, head of the gang “Los Choneros”, is Looking in the United States In multiple loads. An accusation of seven without sealing positions in Brooklyn accuses Macías and an unidentified coacuse with the international distribution of cocaine, conspiracy and arms count, including the smuggling of firearms in the United States.

The former taxi driver turned into the chief of the crime became the main objective of the Ecuadorian Police at the beginning of last year after escape from prison In the southwest port of Guayaquil.

He had been fulfilling a sentence of 34 years since 2011 for his participation in organized crime, drug trafficking and murder.

Last year, the United States classified the Choneros as one of the most violent gangs and affirmed their connection with powerful Mexican drug cartels who threaten Ecuador and the surrounding region.

The authorities in Ecuador have classified the gang as a terrorist organization. The government of President Daniel Nemaa at that time published “Wanted” posters and offered $ 1 million for information that led to the recapture of Macias.

The escape of Macías “caused generalized disturbances, bombings, kidnappings, the murder of an outstanding prosecutor and an armed attack on a television network during a live broadcast,” said the United States embassy last year and consulate in Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian government and drug mafias also declared a war with each other, and Neboa gave orders to “neutralize” criminal gangs after The gunmen broke and opened fire In the television studio and the bandits threatened the random executions of civilians and security forces.

After months of persecution, Macias was recaptured last month in a massive military and police operation in which they did not shoot.

He was found hidden in a hidden bunker under the tiles in a luxury house in the Manta fishing port, and Neloa declared that he would be extradited “as soon as possible.”

“More will fall, we will claim the country. There is no truce,” said Novoa in an X position at that time. “We have done our part to proceed with the extradition of Fito to the United States.”

“Fito” ruled a famous prison where he obtained a lawyer title

Macias, dressed in an orange prison uniform, participated in a judicial hearing on Friday by a video link from a high security prison in Guayaquil.

In response to a judge’s question, he replied: “Yes, I accept (extradition).”

Given its consent, the court said in a statement “will now follow the pertinent procedure for the transfer process,” and Nnovera has to sign the official transfer documents.

This would make Macias the first Ecuadorian extradited by his country, since the measure was written in law last year after a referendum in which Novoa sought the approval of measures to boost his war on criminal gangs.

Ecuador, once a peaceful refuge between the two best cocaine exporters in the world, Colombia and Peru, has seen violence explode in recent years as enemy gangs With ties with Mexican and Colombian posters they compete for control.

Gang wars have been largely developed within the country’s prisons, where Macias exercised immense control.

He was the unofficial chief of his prison Guayaquil, where the authorities found images glorifying the gangster, the American weapons and dollars.

The holiday videos that celebrated in prison showed the use of fireworks and a mariachi band. In a clip, he appeared greeting, laughing and stroking a fighting rooster.

Macias obtained his lawyer after the bars.

When he escaped, he was considered suspicious in the murder of the presidential candidate and the Fernando Villavicencio Anti -Corruption Crusade in 2023.

Shortly after the pause in Macias prison, Noboa declared that Ecuador was in a state of “internal armed conflict” and ordered the military and tanks to the streets that “neutralize” gangs.

The Choneros have links with the Sinaloa Cartel of Mexico, the Gulf of Colombia, the largest cocaine exporter in the world, and the Balkan mafias, according to the Observatory of Crimes Organized Ecuadore.

More than 70 percent of all cocaine produced in the world now happens Through the ports of Ecuadoraccording to government data.

In 2024, the country took a record of 294 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine.

• Drug posters
• Drug traffic
• Ecuador