In a dramatic conclusion to a 17-month manhunt, Ecuadorian police arrested José Adolfo "Fito" Macías Villamar, the country's top-ranked wanted drug boss and leader of the feared Los Choneros gang. He was arrested on 25 June 2025 in Manta, following a targeted operation by the armed forces and police of Ecuador with U.S. intelligence assistance. President Daniel Noboa assured the success of the operation, having described it as a "surgical" one that ended without any casualties.
/*Operation Information and Uncovering of the Bunker*/
Security troops, assisted by advanced surveillance and a clue from a transit company employee, discovered Fito cowering under a Manta luxury dwelling. They discovered an underground bunker entrance by means of a trapdoor in the floor tiles, equipped with air conditioning, a bed, and a refrigerator. The arrest squad broke in after approximately 10 hours of intense searching, arresting the fugitive without firing a shot. Fito was later taken to La Roca, Ecuador's maximum-security prison in Guayaquil.
/*Fugitive's Background and Criminal Empire*/
Fito, born in Manta in 1979, took over Los Choneros in 2020 upon the assassination of his boss. In January 2024, he escaped from Guayaquil's top-security prison allegedly with the assistance of guards, triggering riots in seven prisons and a series of gun and bomb attacks across Ecuador. Los Choneros, which has an estimated 5,000 members in prisons and 7,000 outside, controls cocaine-trafficking corridors into the U.S. with Mexico's Sinaloa cartel's collaboration. Fito faces indictment in U.S. federal court on charges of drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, and distribution of cocaine, and has a 34-year sentence pending in Ecuador.
/*Extradition and International Cooperation*/
President Noboa announced Ecuador has initiated extradition proceedings against the United States, where Fito is federally indicted in Brooklyn on charges of trafficking more than a thousand pounds of cocaine. The U.S. Embassy in Quito officially congratulated Ecuador, stressing the importance of bilateral cooperation. If extradited, Fito would be the first Ecuadorian gangster to be handed over to American justice.
/*Government Response and Security Implications*/
The president of Ecuador had praised the arrest as proof of the success of the newly enacted Solidarity and Intelligence legislation, strengthening surveillance and sweep operations. The 2024 escape had created a state of national emergency, with the president declaring gangs to be "terrorist groups" and deploying the army nationwide. The arrest is a major victory in the ongoing campaign against organized crime, which has been described by experts as a low‑intensity internal war that has claimed over 50 lives and produced thousands of arrests.
/*What's Next: Trials and Prison Monitoring*/
Fito is still to be tried in Guayaquil and requested to be sent to a federal court in the U.S. In the interim, Ecuador is under international pressure to revamp its prison system, where corruption and lack of supervision made his 2024 escape possible. Experts state dismantling gangs like Los Choneros, deeply rooted both inside and outside prisons, is key to longer-term national security. Fito's capture is a milestone, but authorities state it is only one of numerous steps toward restarting the rule of law.