Ecuador is experiencing one of its most difficult moments and in the midst of the declaration of internal conflict by the president Daniel Noboaarmed gangs at the service of drug traffickers changed their actions, generating chaos and fear in the nation.
The statement from General Helder Giraldo, commander of the Colombian Military Forces
He said Giraldo to W Radio, about 200 of the 220 people who escaped from Ecuadorian prisons during the violent drug onslaught of recent days “have been recaptured by the authorities from Ecuador. There are 20 fugitives of whom we are very attentive,” among them Fito.
Asked about himThe presence of Ecuador’s most wanted criminal in Colombian territoryGiraldo asserted that “it is possible, but that is why we have a broad device to (…) carry out the effective capture of this terrorist.”
The Colombian military also monitors Fabricio Colon Picogang leader The Wolves, who escaped from prison after Ecuadorian Attorney General Diana Salazar accused him of planning an attack against her.
The closure of the border between Ecuador and Colombia
Colombia militarized the border with Ecuador on Wednesday to prevent the passage of fugitives and criminals from that country, plagued by the violence of drug trafficking gangs, which this week caused at least 16 deaths and more than a hundred kidnappings.
“The priority is to close the path of these ringleaders (…) of these armed groups that at a given moment want to cross into national territory,” Giraldo told Blu Radio on Friday.
The union of the criminal gangs of Ecuador and Colombia
According to the general, the Choneros, led by Fito, and other criminal gangs in Ecuador, such as the Tiguerones, what orThey live in the border province of Esmeraldas, They have “a close relationship” with Colombian armed groups such as the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a dissident of the extinct FARC.
Between March and April 2018, this group then led by the despondent Walter Arizala, alias Guacho, kidnapped and murdered a journalistic team from the Ecuadorian newspaper Trade.
The use that drug traffickers give to Ecuador’s prisons
The Ecuadorian drug traffickers They use prisons as criminal offices from where they manage the drug trafficking, order murders, manage the proceeds of crime and fight to the death with rivals for power. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced the “repatriation” of 1,500 Colombian prisoners to reduce overcrowding in his country’s prisons.
But the measure went down badly with the leftist Colombian government of Gustavo Petrowhich considers it a “mass expulsion” and problematic since many prisoners would be released on the other side of the border.
Source: Ambito
