José Adolfo Macías, drug trafficker in the US. Uu., Recaptured in Ecuador more than a year after escape

José Adolfo Macías Villamara fugitive drug trafficker known as Fito and searched by the authorities in Ecuador and the United States, was recaptured more than a year after he escaped from prison in the Andean nation, the Ecuadorian president Daniel Novoa announced Wednesday.

Macías, who directed a gang called “Los Choneros” in Ecuador, was captured in the Ecuadorian city of Manta, said his hometown, officials from Ecuador. In April, he was accused in New York City for charges that imported thousands of cocaine pounds to the United States.

“More will fall, we will claim the country. There is no truce,” said Novoa in an X post announcing the arrest of Macías. “We have done our part to proceed with the extradition of Fito to the United States, we are waiting for your answer.”

Interpol had issued an arrest warrant for Macias after Mysterious escape from prison in early 2024 of the Guayaquil Regional Prison, where he was serving a 34 -year sentence for drug trafficking. Ecuadorian authorities have not yet explained how it escaped one of the country’s notoriously violent prisons. They only found out about their escape when a military contingent arrived to transfer it to another maximum security prison, but did not find it in his cell.

The Ecuadorian army confirmed the recovery of Macias in what seemed to be the basement of a house. A video provided by the army showed the moment of the arrest, with a uniformed officer pointing with a gun at the head of the drug trafficker, which gave his full name. The officers had found him hidden in a small hole under what appeared to be a kitchen counter.

The Wednesday announcement of his arrest arrives in the same week as Federico Gómez, aka “Fede”, the leader of another gang called Las Aguilas, was confirmed that he escaped from an Ecuadorian prison.

Last year, US prosecutor John Durham said in a press release that Macias led the Choneros and his “network of drugs and drug traffickers” from at least 2020.

With an extensive criminal history that includes organized murder and crime positions, Macías has cultivated a state of cult between gang colleagues and the public in their country of origin.

While he was behind bars in 2023, he released a video aimed at “The Ecuadorian People” while it was flanked by armed men. He also threw parties in prison, where he had access to everything, from liquor to roosters for rooster fighting. He had also been directing the choneros from his jail cell, authorities allege.

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.

The accusation of seven charges revealed in Brooklyn accuses Macías already an unidentified coacusado with the international distribution of cocaine, conspiracy and arms count, including smuggling of firearms in the United States.

The Choneros used people to buy firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and smuggled in Ecuador, according to the accusation. Cocaine would flow to the United States with the help of Mexican posters.

“The Choneros operated a vast network responsible for the shipment and distribution of quantities of cocaine of several tons from South America through Central America and Mexico to the United States and other places,” says the accusation.

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. Earlier this month, the Ecuadorian government announced that the reward for the capture of Macías would increase to $ 1 million.