Famous Gang Leader Evades Jail, Declaring Emergency in Ecuador
Famous Gang Leader Evades
Jail, Declaring Emergency in Ecuador
President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador
recently declared a 60-day state
of emergency across the entire country following the escape of the nation's
most sought criminal kingpin amid a wave of disturbances throughout jails.
Authorities are working feverishly to apprehend the leader who is on the run.
Chaos Is Set Off by Prison
Break
Famous Los Choneros gang leader
Jose Adolfo Macias, also referred to as "Fito," escaped from a
Guayaquil prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for crimes including
drug trafficking and murder.
As violence and chaos broke out
in Fito's aftermath, Ecuador's jail agency recorded occurrences in at least six
prisons around the nation the next day.
Fito's allies are thought to have
abducted three police officers close to Machala, a coastal city, and one more
in Quito, the capital, as a possible act of vengeance.
Declared a State of Emergency
President Noboa rushed to
officially declare a state of emergency across the country in an attempt to
assert exceptional administrative powers and contain the rapidly growing crisis
associated with Fito's daring prison breakout.
This provision gives the military
the ability to move into public spaces and seize custody of prisons from jail
officials for a period of sixty days. There's also a daily nationwide curfew
that runs from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Similar short states of emergency
have been imposed by other Ecuadorian administrations in an effort to stop
violent and criminal breakouts.
Promise to Apprehend Notorious
Offenders
Declaring that "this is
everyone's fight," President Noboa made it clear in public that he would
not engage in negotiations with terrorists. He promised that security personnel
would find and apprehend the dangerous fugitive Fito.
The jail breach offers an early
test of the new president's ability to maintain peace and order since taking
office in November 2022, given Ecuador's skyrocketing crime statistics.
Adolfo Macias: who is he?
After the previous boss was
assassinated, Jose Adolfo Macias Cervantes, also known as "Fito,"
rose to the top of Los Choneros, which is thought to be the most powerful
organized criminal group in
Ecuador.
Fito was sentenced to 35 years in
jail for crimes including establishing drug processing labs and carrying out
gang assassinations when he was originally brought into the system more than
ten years ago.
However, his influence persisted
in guiding Los Choneros' illegal actions, such as homicide and worldwide drug
trafficking, even after he was put behind bars.