In a basement converted into a bunker… Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, the most wanted criminal in Ecuador in recent months, was captured there this Wednesday.

The basement belonged to one of his luxurious homes in the city of Manta, in the west of the country.

Fito, 45, and considered the leader of the Los Choneros gang, had escaped from the Litoral prison in Guayaquil in January 2024, triggering an institutional crisis that ended with the declaration of a state of emergency by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

The president himself had published posters with the image of alias Fito offering a reward of $1 million to the person or persons who provided information leading to his capture.

Los Choneros, along with other powerful Ecuadorian criminal gangs, had become a key hub for drug trafficking to Mexico.

According to local reports, Macias was found hiding in a bunker that could be accessed by lifting a door on the floor of a luxury home.

“We will take back the country. Without respite, Noboa said upon hearing the news.

Noboa also stated that his government was awaiting a response from U.S. authorities regarding Fito's extradition.

U.S. prosecutors have filed formal charges against Macias on at least seven counts of cocaine distribution, conspiracy, and firearms-related offenses.

Those charges include specific collaboration with the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico to control cocaine trafficking routes.

From Taxi Driver to Criminal Leader

Macias made headlines in Ecuador and around the world when his escape from the Litoral prison in Guayaquil was reported in January 2024.

At the time, Ecuador was experiencing a very delicate moment. A few months earlier, in August 2023, hitmen had shot and killed presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

Furthermore, there was a critical situation inside the prisons: from 2021 to 2024, nearly 400 deaths were reported in Ecuador's prisons due to clashes between rival gangs.

These numbers were largely due to the gang led by Fito, Los Choneros, whose origin is found in the coastal province of Manabí, where the town of Chone is located.

At the time of his escape, Fito had been serving - since 2011 - a 34-year prison sentence for crimes related to drug trafficking, organized crime, and murder.

But his criminal career had begun when he was working as a taxi driver and mechanic in his city, Manta, located in the province of Manabí, in the mid-1990s.

There he met Jorge Bismarck Veliz Espana, known by the alias Lieutenant Espana, who recruited him for his organization. He began stealing cars and later rose through the ranks within the organization.

This occurred as the criminal organization began to develop ties to Colombian and Mexican drug cartels.

In 2011, he was captured and sent to prison. Although he managed to escape in 2013 and was recaptured three months later.

But due to the lack of control by the authorities, Fito had managed to control not only the prison activities amidst luxuries and comforts, but also to continue leading his gang from his confinement.

In fact, his escape occurred when members of the Ecuadorian security forces were trying to transfer him to a maximum security prison after the luxuries with which he lived in the Litoral prison became known.

A space coveted by criminals

But how did Fito and Los Choneros, who began as a gang dedicated to car theft, become the most feared names in Ecuador?

One answer has to do with Ecuador's geographical and strategic position.

“Ecuador has played a central role, for some time now, in the transportation of cocaine to both the United States and Europe. It also shares border with Colombia, right in the area where coca leaves are produced,” Carolina Sampo, a doctor and researcher at Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council, told BBC Mundo. “If you add to that the weakness of the state and the lack of resources for state institutions, Ecuador has unfortunately become a space not only for transit, but also from which to operate,” she added. “This makes Ecuador a coveted space for criminal organizations.” As a result, the expert points out, For several years, Ecuador has suffered a wave of violence exacerbated by territorial disputes between drug cartels from Colombia and Mexico.

“Fito” became the leader of the gang after Ecuadorian authorities confirmed the death in Colombia of the previous leader, Junior Roldan, in 2023, just days after having regained his freedom.

Roldan shared leadership of the Regional Prison with “Fito,” who, moreover, had already attracted attention with his desire to escape.

He had only been behind bars for two years when in 2013 he managed to evade, along with other high-risk inmates, the controls of the maximum security prison known as La Roca, in Guayaquil.

He did so by sailing a boat along the Daule River, which runs parallel to the prison. It took three months before authorities were able to capture him and bring him back to prison.

According to local media outlet Primicias, in the Guayaquil prison, the criminal not only obtained a law degree but also controlled his drug trafficking operations, expanded extortion practices, and ordered murders for a decade.

The outlet claims that in May 2023, the kingpin had more than $23 million dollars between front men, shell companies, and other activities.

Apparently, under Macías's leadership, the gang maintained an extortion scheme against the rest of the inmates before his escape in January 2024.

Calculations by the Anti-Narcotics Investigation Directorate, cited by Primicias, estimate that criminal activities within the prison generated up to $70,000 a week per cellblock.

Pools, parties, and extortion

One of the inmates who met him at the Regional Prison, the prison where he was before being transferred to a maximum security prison in August 2023, claims that the criminal created pools in spaces in the pavilions intended for walking or stretching legs, organized parties, filmed videos, offered press conferences, or introduced weapons with drones.

The guides have no choice but to become accomplices; they are already threatened by their families. Los Choneros charge us prisoners between $10 and $20 dollars a week for our stay, not including what they force you to buy, the man told the publication, under anonymity.

Then, he appeared in photographs as obese, with long hair and a prominent beard. Thousands of uniformed officers were watching him, in one of the largest military and police operations carried out there by former President Guillermo Lasso.

And that was the image most familiar to everyone. Until this Wednesday, when authorities reported his capture, he was visibly lighter and had a trimmed beard and hair.

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