# Ecuador indicts fugitive Los Choneros leader in New York
The fugitive leader of one of Ecuador’s most violent criminal groups has been indicted in New York City on charges that he imported large quantities of cocaine into the United States and helped move weapons in the other direction.
AP says José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as Fito, is accused in a seven-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn of international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and weapons offenses. The case centers on Los Choneros, a gang that U.S. prosecutors say relied on hitmen, bribes and military weapons to control trafficking routes through Ecuador and beyond.
The indictment also says Macías is not in U.S. custody. AP reports that he escaped from prison in Ecuador last year and was later discovered missing from his cell in Guayaquil, where he had been serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking. The article describes him as the leader of Los Choneros since at least 2020, and says the gang operated a network moving cocaine from South America through Central America and Mexico into the United States.
The charges are broad and touch several parts of the trafficking chain. Prosecutors accuse Macías and an unidentified co-defendant of coordinating the purchase of firearms, components and ammunition in the United States and smuggling them into Ecuador. In the opposite direction, cocaine was allegedly moved with the help of Mexican cartels along routes that linked Ecuador, Central America and the U.S. market.
AP notes that Los Choneros has already been designated one of the most violent gangs in the region and that Ecuadorian authorities have classified it as a terrorist organization. The Ecuadorian government also recently increased the reward for Macías’ capture to $1 million, underscoring how high a priority he has become for both Quito and Washington.
The New York indictment is significant because it extends the fight against Ecuador’s gang violence onto U.S. legal ground. The packet does not say when or whether Macías will face trial in the United States, but it does establish that federal prosecutors are now treating him as an international trafficker with a wide transnational support network.
For Ecuador, the case highlights how prison breaks, cartel alliances and gun smuggling have become part of a broader security crisis. For the U.S., it is another reminder that the cocaine trade flowing north depends on both logistics and violence, and that prosecutors are trying to target both.
