Argentina’s Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said Friday that she had arrested and deported the wife and children of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, one of Ecuador’s most notorious drug traffickers. Macías Villamar, known as “Fito” and leader of the criminal group Los Choneros, escaped from the prison he was in at the beginning of January: his escape caused a series of inmate riots in many prisons across the country, which pushed President Noboa to sign a decree imposing a state of emergency.
Bullrich said he expelled Fito’s family, repatriating them to Ecuador, to show that Argentina “is hostile territory for narco-criminals.” The ministry also released videos of several people being escorted towards an Argentine Air Force plane: there were eight in total, including various associates. Despite having been in prison since 2011, it is believed that over the last decade Fito has continued to command Los Choneros, a criminal group which, among other things, had threatened presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was then assassinated on 9 August 2023 after a rally in the capital Quito.
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