BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian police on Sunday said they captured the wife and daughter of a notorious Ecuadorian gang leader who was extradited to the U.S. last year on drug trafficking charges. Police said the two women, who are wanted in Ecuador for money laundering, were arrested in Sabana de Torres, a small town in northeastern Colombia, in an operation backed by the FBI and Ecuadorian authorities. “Colombia will not be a safe haven for the finances of transnational criminal groups,” Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella said in a message posted on X on Sunday. “I will send these (women) with pleasure to my friend President Daniel Noboa, so that they face Ecuadorian justice.” José Adolfo Macías Villamar, whose nickname is “Fito,” escaped from a prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador in January 2024. The gang leader’s prison break prompted Ecuador’s government to declare a state of emergency that was followed by deadly prison riots and chaos in the streets of Guayaquil, where gang members stormed a television station during a live broadcast. Macías Villamar was recaptured last year and sent to the United States, where he has been charged with importing thousands of pounds of cocaine. His organization, Los Choneros, was designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department last year. Despite capturing powerful kingpins like Macías Villamar, and deploying the military to patrol some cities, Ecuador is struggling to contain drug violence. The South American country’s homicide rate has quintupled since 2020, and last year Ecuador recorded its highest homicide rate in recent history — with 50 homicides per every 100,000 residents, according to the Interior Ministry. Noboa’s response to drug trafficking outfits has come under criticism from human rights groups, as the military commits abuses that include the slayings of four children aged 11 to 15 in 2024. Despite these setbacks, Noboa was re-elected to a four-year term last year by voters increasingly concerned with crime. The Associated Press
