How the Córdoba shelter that “Fito” Macías planned for his family before escaping from prison fell

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The timeline explains it: in November, Inda Mariela Peñarrieta Tuarez, wife of Ecuadorian drug trafficker José Adolfo “Fito” Macías, bought the house in cash in the country Valle del Golf, in Malagueño, on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba. The house had a two-year debt for expenses, which they also paid in cash, without a word. It was on the last trip before Inda moved with Fito’s three children: Michelle, 21, Ilse María, 12, and Lian Sejam, 4, on January 4, four days before it was detected. Fito’s escape from the Litoral Penitentiary, where the drug lord was serving a 34-year prison sentence for drug trafficking, murders and money laundering.

Macías knew that after his escape there would be prison riots, police kidnappings, attacks with explosives, and even the takeover of the TC channel by armed men. The disaster was such that the president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared an “internal armed conflict” and ordered a relentless fight against twenty gangs, including Los Choneros, the organization led by Fito.

The two-story, four-bedroom house in the Cordoba country was the place chosen by Macías to protect his family from the revenge that would be unleashed against them. A cooling site, not a new base of operations, they believe. Although there are points that still need to be investigated, such as knowing if in addition to this house they bought other properties in Córdoba.

Fito Macías’ family, in addition to a domestic worker, a nephew and a family friend: Denny Yadira Laines Basurto, Javier Macías Alcivar and Ángel Zambrano Chiquito, were loaded onto a military plane and returned to Ecuador. The instrument used for their expulsion was an immigration resolution: the revocation of their temporary residence, which the clan obtained without problems when entering the country because there was no arrest warrant against them, not even an Interpol “code blue” whereabouts request.

Inda Mariela Peñarrieta Tuarez, wife of the Ecuadorian drug trafficker Fito Macías. (The voice)

The planned landing

The Minister of National Security, Patricia Bullrich, said that there was “planning by this family to settle in Argentina,” because the house was “bought in November.” “They have several entrances, so our hypothesis is that there was a plan to buy the house, get the family out and then escape from prison,” Bullrich said.

The national Minister of the Interior, Guillermo Francos, agreed that “it was absolutely planned” and revealed that Macías’ family “has entries in September, October, November and January.”

“It is important to note that the prosecutor in charge of investigating Fito’s wife’s trip to Argentina was murdered a few days ago. When they commissioned him to investigate, they murdered him. To give an idea of ​​the magnitude of the organization led by this criminal,” he remarked.

The Minister of Security of Córdoba, Juan Pablo Quinteros, stated that they have no indications that they have come to develop drug trafficking: “They came to hide, to take refuge.”

The Minister of Defense Luis Petri, the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich and her counterpart from Cordoba, Juan Pablo Quinteros, together with the Director of Criminal Intelligence, Alberto Bietti. (The voice)

The first data

Minister Bullrich told a press conference that “there was an alert from the Ecuadorian Justice, and they gave us the information that he was in Córdoba.”

But the most concrete clue reached Minister Quinteros. An informant wrote to him that Inda Peñarrieta and her three children had moved to a house in the country Villa del Golf that had been purchased in the name of Jorge Peñarrieta Tuarez, Inda’s brother.

The anonymous person explained that for months new beds, mattresses, televisions and other furniture were arriving at the house, all with covers and boxes, until on January 5 they were seen arriving.

The investigation initiated by the Anti-Terrorist Division of the Córdoba Police, together with the Directorate of Criminal Intelligence, was able to specify the information that the property had been placed in the name of a company: Jomavi, which has the Peñarrieta Tuarez brothers as its shareholders. and that it had been investigated in 2020 for money laundering in favor of Los Choneros, the organization led by Macías. In a process that was questioned with suspicions of corruption, the brothers were acquitted in 2022. Something that could be reversed in the last hours – and could mean a judicial complication for Inda – because just a few hours before the prosecutor César Suárez Pilay was killed , he had sent the provincial prosecutor of Manabí a memorandum to find out if Fito’s wife had pending proceedings or investigations in that jurisdiction.

Fito Macías, the dangerous Ecuadorian drug trafficker who escaped from prison and unleashed chaos in Ecuador.

The investigation

Alberto Bietti, director of Criminal Intelligence of the Córdoba Police, said that as soon as the information arrived, a stealthy surveillance operation was mounted around the country. The first thing that caught our attention is that in the indicated house the inhabitants only moved in “truck” cars. The R-12 and the Corsa that came to pick up the members of the family clan stood out, in contrast, with the brand cars and new license plates of the rest of the homes in the private neighborhood.

“Ecuadorian researchers were asked for collaboration, who provided us with images. In this way, the identities could be 100% corroborated,” Bietti confided.

The problem in taking action was that there was no arrest warrant. Not even a request for his whereabouts from Interpol.

Minister Quinteros presented a letter to the prosecutor of the federal Chamber in Córdoba, Alberto Lozada, to inform the situation. At the same time, he had his first communication with Bullrich, with whom they decided to unify the investigations.

The problem they had to solve was formal: with what argument to detain and deport the Macías.

The operation to transfer Fito Macías’ relatives to Buenos Aires. (The voice)

The invitation to withdraw

Last Thursday everything was ready for the procedure, but there was no arrest warrant or search warrant. Bullrich passed the ball to the National Immigration Directorate to study a possible deportation. What arrived was less than that: a resolution revoking the temporary residence they obtained upon entering the country. It is little more than an invitation to withdraw.

The operation, led on the ground by Quinteros, Police Chief Leonardo Gutiérrez, Bietti and the support of federal forces, was carried out with that in hand. And with a direct order from Governor Martín Llaryora: “they have to go.”

The procedure was planned in detail, but first they had to deal with an unforeseen event: when everything was ready, three members of the clan went out for a walk at the Patio Olmos shopping center in the capital. As always, they took one of these trick trucks and left the country, followed by discreet surveillance by Criminal Intelligence. They walked around, ate, bought sneakers and around 7 p.m. they took a taxi and headed back.

Hidden in the Shell service station on Route 20 were the members of the elite corps of the provincial police, Eter, the support motorcycles and the federal police. They let them pass, but when the taxi carrying the three young people stopped at the other station, located almost at the entrance to the country, they decided to act.

Daughter of the Ecuadorian drug trafficker Fito Macías at the time of being deported. (The voice)

They got them out of the car and informed them that there was an Immigration resolution that forced them to leave the country.

Then, they entered the private neighborhood, knocked on the door, and when Inda and the rest of the clan left, the notification spread to the entire group.

Different scenarios had been prepared, but since there was no search warrant, it could not be entered by force. The mischief of the Police in order to comply with the Immigration notification was to get them to leave the house on their own. This also prevented other risk situations, such as the possibility that some of the members of the clan would try to resist and a confrontation would arise, with unforeseeable consequences. Among those present was the youngest of Fito and Inda’s children, 4 years old.

They were allowed to change and pack their bags. There was no order to seize anything, but the police who accompanied the detainees did not see weapons, drugs, or money. Their cell phones were not even seized. The treatment was cordial, without any hint of violence, neither among the police nor among the detainees of the Macías clan. One observer noted: “they were even seen as submissive, as if they knew what awaited them now, that there was no point in resisting.”

Operation in Valle del Golf, Córdoba, to arrest relatives of the Ecuadorian drug trafficker Fito Macías. (Gentleness)

“Surely they thought that Argentina was a permeable country. They had no problems buying the house,” reflected Bullrich. And he assured: “Evidently they found themselves with a decision that this is not the case.”

Quinteros continued along the same lines: “I don’t know why they chose Córdoba, but they were wrong. The shelter lasted 14 days.”

Francos defended the instrument chosen for the virtual expulsion: “Argentina is not going to be a home for criminals nor are we going to allow criminals to enter, let everyone know that. “Argentina is not going to be a narco country.”

Also at the conference, the Minister of Defense, Luis Petri, highlighted the concept: “There is a decision to combat drug trafficking throughout the country, there is a decision to expel foreigners who commit crimes.”

In the statements there was complete agreement on one term: “Argentina is a hostile territory for drug trafficking.” They all repeated it: Bullrich, Petri, Francos and Quinteros, who added from his harvest: “And Córdoba even more.”