The Fall of Fito: What It Means — and Doesn’t — for Ecuador’s Underworld

Ecuadorian security forces captured the country’s most notorious criminal leader in a crucial, though largely symbolic, win in its “war on gangs.” A joint operation by police and military on June 25 led to the capture of Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” leader of the Choneros, one of Ecuador’s top drug trafficking groups.

A joint operation by police and military on June 25 led to the capture of Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” leader of the Choneros, one of Ecuador’s top drug trafficking groups. Under Fito’s leadership, the Choneros have leveraged their connections and sway in the strategic coastal province of Manabí — home to Manta — to become a key link in the transnational cocaine supply chain. The group oversees the arrival of cocaine shipments from Colombia, later exporting the drug on a fleet of go-fast boats and other vessels to destinations in Central America and Mexico. From there, cocaine is shipped on to consumer markets in North America and Europe.

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