ECUADOR THE DADDY GANG LOS CHONEROS

RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ASSASSINATION OF THE CANDIDATE TO PRESIDENTIAL

 FERNANDO VILLAVICENCIO ?

Six Colombians were arrested and a seventh died in an exchange of fire with the police.

The politician's assassination, which shocked the country, occurred ahead of general elections scheduled for August 20. This former journalist had denounced corruption and received death threats from the Los Choneros trafficking gang.

The investigation into the assassination of the candidate for the Ecuadorian presidential election, killed in the middle of the street on Wednesday in Quito, has only just begun, but the suspicions of the police are indeed focused on Adolfo "Fito" Macias, their leader .

Adolfo "Fito" Macias, their leader.

"Fito", leader of the fearsome "Los Choneros" gang, was transferred to a high security prison on Saturday. An operation carried out by 4,000 heavily armed soldiers and police, three days after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

"Fito", whose real name is Adolfo Macías, is today the only founding member of the "Choneros" still alive. Created in the 90s, the criminal organization is structured around drug trafficking, not hesitating to use violence to reign over the cocaine trafficking routes in the Pacific. In the country, many rival gangs have been fighting each other for years to maintain their influence and their networks of illegal trade.

The man is described as acting "under the radar" by the NGO Insight Crime, a foundation that analyzes the dynamics of armed gangs in Latin America.

"Fito" had since kept a low profile publicly, until a video appearance days before Villavicencio's death. He then announced a truce with rival armed groups, such as "Los Lobos" or "Los Tiguerones", two other gangs who sow terror in Ecuador.

"Extreme criminal violence"

The homicide rate linked to drug trafficking, of 26 per 100,000 inhabitants since the beginning of the year, has almost doubled compared to last year and marks a record. The victims of violence are mayors, judges, prosecutors and dozens of civilians without criminal records. Reminiscent of the methods of Mexican narcos, dismembered corpses began to appear in the streets of the country, bodies hanging from bridges and kidnappings for extortion multiplied, leaving in the best of cases, the victims amputated of a finger or with one ear.

26 gangs linked to drug trafficking.

President Guillermo Lasso, who fought against gangs but failed to stem crime, accused "organized crime" of having ordered the murder of Mr. Villavicencio.

According to Interior Minister Juan Zapata, more than 13 criminal organizations operate in Ecuador, including Los Choneros, the oldest and most powerful, now allied with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel.

But military intelligence lists up to 26 gangs linked to drug trafficking. Los Lobos, the main rival gang to Los Choneros, is associated with the Mexican cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación.

The war on drugs in Mexico and Colombia has led cartels from these two countries, in addition to Albanian mafias, to settle in Ecuador, where to benefit from the porous borders, the "dollarized" economy, the State corruption and the lack of control over money laundering. For drug trafficking, the Pacific ports, the starting point for cocaine to Europe and the United States, are strategic.

The first round of the election is still scheduled for August 20. The current president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a state of emergency to guarantee the smooth running of the ballot.