2023-08-13 06:37:00
4,000 soldiers and police were mobilized to imprison a gang leader, suspected of having threatened the candidate who was killed on Wednesday August 9
By HR with AFP The police mobilized to place the leader of a powerful gang in prison in the case of the murder of Fernando Villavicencio © GALO PAGUAY / AFP Published on 08/13/2023 at 06:37
The leader of Ecuador’s most powerful gang has been placed in a prison considered one of the most secure in the country. The man is accused of having threatened with death the centrist presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was assassinated on Wednesday August 9. To allow the transportation of this man considered dangerous, no less than 4,000 police and soldiers were mobilized.
The soldiers and agents, heavily armed, entered at dawn in armored vehicles in the Center of deprivation of liberty number eight of Guayaquil (south-west) where Adolfo “Fito” Macias, leader of the formidable “Los Choneros” criminal gang. Footage released by security forces on social media shows a portly, bearded man being apprehended by officers with his hands on his head, then on the ground with his hands tied and in his underwear among dozens other prisoners.
Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso later announced on X (formerly Twitter) that “Fito” had been transferred to La Roca, a 150-bed maximum security prison located in the same prison complex in Guayaquil. According to authorities, “Fito” and his men controlled at least one building of the prison where he was previously held.
Villavicencio claimed the gang leader threatened him
The name “Fito” has been in the headlines in Ecuador since the shooting on Wednesday of Fernando Villavicencio, 59, a centrist candidate who was in second place in the polls ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for August 20. He said last week that the leader of the gang, sentenced to 34 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking, had threatened to kill him.
A former journalist and member of Congress, Mr. Villavicencio had investigated drug trafficking in his country. Six Colombian nationals were arrested in this case, and a seventh was killed in a shootout with the candidate’s bodyguards.
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Drug gangs are powerful in prisons across the country. More than 430 inmates have died in clashes between rival gangs inside facilities since 2021, with dozens dismembered and their bodies burned. The centrist Construye party announced on Saturday that Mr Villavicencio’s running mate , Andra Gonzalez, will be his presidential candidate.
Ms. Gonzalez, a 36-year-old environmentalist, was a longtime ally of Mr. Villavicencio. She has devoted herself in particular to the defense of the oceans and the mangroves, to the fight against deforestation and the trafficking of wild animals. will be chosen from among the most loyal of those who shared the fights of comrade Fernando Villavicencio,” the party said.
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