▶ Watch Video: Most wanted Ecuadorian drug lord captured one year after escape
Colombian police have arrested the wife and daughter of one of Ecuador’s most powerful drug lords who was extradited to the United States last year, President Abelardo de la Espriella said Sunday.
Adolfo Macias, alias “Fito,” is the leader of Los Choneros, a notorious Ecuadorian gang with ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
His wife, Inda Mariela Penarrieta Tuarez, and daughter, Michelle Jamileth Macias Penarrieta, who are wanted in Ecuador for money laundering, were arrested in northeastern Colombia in an operation involving the FBI and Ecuadorian authorities, De la Espriella said.
He said Ecuadorian authorities were investigating the women for “using shell companies to launder the organization’s (Los Choneros’) money.”
“I will gladly send them to my good friend, President Daniel Noboa, so they can answer to Ecuadorian justice,” De la Espriella said in a post on X, along with video and images of the arrest.
“Colombia will not be a refuge for the finances of transnational crime,” he said.
His Ecuadorian counterpart replied on the same platform: “That’s how we work, Abelardo: together and with results.”
In January 2024, Macias Villamar was discovered missing from his prison cell in Quito, Ecuador, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for drug trafficking and murder. A 60-day state of emergency was declared after his escape, the BBC reported. Macias was recaptured and extradited to the U.S. last year.
He faces seven charges in a New York court, including drug trafficking and arms trafficking, which carry sentences ranging from 20 years in prison to life. He pleaded not guilty.
The U.S. designated Los Choneros as a terrorist organization last year. Los Choneros is also one of 20 criminal gangs declared terrorist groups by Ecuador.
Ecuador, once one of Latin America’s safest countries, has become a key cocaine transit hub between top producers Colombia and Peru, and consumers around the world.
Mexican cartels have forged alliances with local gangs, including Los Choneros, who battle for the control of ports and shipping routes.
One of the gang’s top lieutenants, Dario Penafiel, known as “Topo,” was arrested last September in Ecuador’s Amazon, where he was believed to have been coordinating illegal mineral extraction.
