Powerful Ecuador Lord of Drugs “Fito” extradited to us

The powerful Ecuadorian leader of the band Adolfo Machias Villamar is extradited to the United States to be faced with drug and weapons.

Known as “fito” he was Seized in JuneAlmost a year after he escaped from prison with high security, where he was serving a 34-year sentence for a series of crimes.

He will appear in the US Federal Court on Monday, where he will plead guilty on international drug and weapons allegations, his lawyer told Reuters.

Machias was the leader of the band Los Choneros, who is related to powerful criminal organizations in Mexico and the Balkans. He was also suspected of ordering the murder of Presidential candidate Fernando Vilavicese in 2023.

Los Choneros has been accused of transforming Ecuador by tourist asylum into a country with one of the highest killings in the region.

More than 70% of all cocaine produced in the world are currently passing through Ecuador’s ports. The country is located between the two best cocaine exporters in the world, Colombia and Peru.

In June, police followed Machias to what they described as an underground bunker under a luxury home in Manta. He was taken to La Roca, a maximum security prison. At that time, Ecuador President Daniel Noboa praised the security forces for capturing him and said he would be extradited to the United States.

At the country’s prison, he said he was removed from the Ecuador prison earlier on Sunday to be handed over to US authorities.

“Machias and I will appear tomorrow before the Brooklyn Federal Court … where he will plead guilty,” his lawyer Alexei Shaht told Reuters. “He will then be kept in a prison set by the future.”

The Ecuadorians voted in favor of resolving the extradition of citizens in a referendum summoned by President Noboa, who vowed to break down on increasing crime.

In March this year, Noboa Before the BBC He wants us, European and Brazilian armies to join his “war” against criminal gangs.