Ecuador ordered on Saturday the switch to a most safety jail of the chief of one of many principal organized crime teams, Los Choneros, and accused by presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio of getting threatened him earlier than he was lastly assassinated.
President Guillermo Lasso made the announcement on the social community X, previously often known as Twitter, hours after the raid of some 4,000 navy and police personnel was reported on the regional jail within the port metropolis of Guayaquil the place Jose was being held. Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito” and regarded the pinnacle of Los Choneros, an organized crime group indicated by authorities as having ties to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
The president indicated that Fito was transferred to La Roca jail “for the protection of residents and detainees. Ecuador will get better peace and safety. If violent reactions are generated, we’ll act with full drive.”
La Roca is a most safety jail that was closed for some time after an escape and reopened.
The authorities of the jail system beforehand reported in a press release that the operation sought to find weapons, ammunition and explosives in that jail, with out mentioning whether or not the inspection needed to do with the investigation of the Villavicencio crime.
The Nationwide Service for Complete Look after Adults Disadvantaged of Liberty (SNAI) launched pictures of the raid and confirmed a number of prisoners, though it highlighted pictures of Fito.
Villavicencio, shot to dying Wednesday as he left a political rally, had mentioned days earlier than that Fito threatened him and his marketing campaign crew.
On Friday, an Ecuadorian choose ordered the preventive detention of six Colombians prosecuted as suspects within the homicide of Villavicencio, whereas kinfolk and supporters mentioned their final goodbye to the riddled presidential candidate, an unprecedented occasion that severely shook Ecuador simply over every week after the overall elections and within the midst of a wave of violence affecting numerous components of the South American nation.
Till now the authorities haven’t revealed the potential motive for the homicide and who or who can be behind it. Villavicencio was considered one of eight registered candidates for the August 20 presidential election.
The 59-year-old politician was not among the many favorites, with simply 10% of the preferences, though he was a widely known determine for having denounced numerous circumstances of alleged authorities corruption and arranged crime up to now in the course of the electoral marketing campaign.
In accordance with the authorities, Fito’s group was answerable for the Guayaquil regional jail. Within the pictures launched by the authorities, the boss is seen in his underwear, his palms as much as his head; he can later be seen on the ground with the opposite inmates. He’s serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking, organized crime and murder.
After the final bloodbath on the finish of July within the adjoining Litoral jail, which in line with the authorities left 31 lifeless and 14 injured, Fito appeared in a video giving statements from his cell asserting a supposed peace pact with different prison teams and the police. which was formally denied.
The Guayaquil regional jail is situated 270 kilometers southwest of Quito and inside a jail complicated. At present, some 4,761 inmates are being held on this heart with a capability for 4,505 inmates, in line with the jail authorities.
A current raid on the Litoral Penitentiary, additionally situated throughout the identical jail complicated and which is taken into account one of the harmful within the Andean nation, made it potential to grab, along with weapons and ammunition, a pool with fish, hen and duck farms, and 15 canine, in line with authorities.
Since 2021, Ecuador’s prisons have been the scene of bloody confrontations between prison gangs that authorities attribute to the ability dispute, management of territory for management of nationwide and worldwide drug trafficking and micro-trafficking routes. This has led to a wave of violence and insecurity within the streets, particularly within the coastal provinces of the nation in recent times.
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