CAPTION: Ecuador drug lord Adolfo "Fito Macias Villar, extradited to the U.S. after escaping from prison
Ecuador has extradited its most prominent drug trafficker, Adolfo “Fito” Macías Villamar, to the United States, months after his daring escape from prison triggered a national crisis and reignited the government’s fight against criminal gangs.
Los Choneros gang boss Macías, who has ties to Mexican, Colombian, and Balkan cartels, was extradited to New York state late Sunday amid heavy security. He is to appear before a federal court in Brooklyn on Monday to face a seven-count indictment for international cocaine trafficking, conspiracy, and weapons smuggling. His lawyer, Alexei Schacht, stated that Macías will enter a plea of not guilty, Reuters reported.
The extradition is the first under a new Ecuadorean law permitting the handover of nationals to foreign powers. President Daniel Noboa brought in the reform in a public referendum in 2024 as part of sweeping attempts to stem out-of-control gang violence.
“This is only the beginning,” Noboa wrote in a defiant message on social media. “There will be more falls. We’ll recover the country. No truce.”
A one-time taxi driver, Macías gained notoriety as the head of Los Choneros, one of Ecuador’s most violent gangs, now designated a terrorist organization by Ecuadorian authorities. He was doing a 34-year prison term while in Guayaquil’s La Roca prison for organized crime, drug trafficking, and murder.
But in January 2024, just days before he was to be transferred to prison, Macías vanished from his maximum-security cell, triggering a wave of bombings, kidnappings, and prison riots. Gunmen burst into a live TV broadcast, and the prominent prosecutor César Suárez, who was investigating the case, was assassinated. President Noboa declared an “internal armed conflict,” deploying the armed forces to combat gangs nationwide.
The government posted a $1 million reward for Macías’s capture.
After a six-month manhunt, Macías was captured on June 25 in the port city of Manta. He was found in a secret bunker beneath the tiled floor of a luxury villa linked to Los Choneros. Amazingly, no shots were fired in the capture.
During a video court appearance shortly afterwards, Macías confirmed he would consent to extradition. The court approved the transfer, and on Sunday he was removed from prison into U.S. custody. The U.S. Department of Justice has not commented on the extradition.
Macías earned a mythic reputation from behind bars. Prison videos showed him partying with mariachi groups, consuming liquor, and even hosting cockfights. In one video, surrounded by gun-toting guards, he delivered a message “to the Ecuadorian people.”
He is also suspected of ordering the 2023 killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, a prominent anti-corruption activist who had publicly spoken out against Los Choneros.
The gang’s international scope is vast. Ecuador’s Organized Crime Observatory has linked Los Choneros to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, Colombia’s Gulf Clan — the world’s largest cocaine exporter and transnational Balkan mafias. U.S. authorities report the gang was instrumental in smuggling firearms into Ecuador and flooding North America with cocaine.
A relatively stable nation sandwiched between Colombia and Peru — the world’s two biggest cocaine producers — Ecuador has become a significant transshipment hub. Over 70% of the world’s cocaine now transits Ecuadorian ports, government figures show. In 2024 alone, Ecuadorian authorities seized a record 294 tonnes of drugs.
President Noboa has called for international military assistance in his fight against organized crime, stating in a recent BBC interview that he would prefer to have the U.S., European, and Brazilian militaries helping to secure Ecuador.
With Fito now in U.S. custody, the Ecuadoran government considers the extradition both a symbolic and a strategic victory.
For most Ecuadorans, however, the war is far from over.
As Noboa put it briefly: “We have done what we had to do to proceed with Fito’s extradition. Now, we proceed. No turning back.”
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