WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States has imposed sanctions on Ecuadorian criminal group Los Choneros and its leader, according to a statement from the U.S. Treasury Department.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Increasing violence in Ecuador led President Daniel Noboa to launch a military crackdown on gangs and declare a 60-day state of emergency last month.
Authorities have linked Los Choneros to activities such as extortion, murder, and drug trafficking, and have accused the group of exerting control over Ecuador’s crime-ridden and overcrowded prisons.
The U.S. sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to the group and its leader, and generally prohibit Americans from engaging in transactions with them. However, it is uncertain how many assets the gang possesses.
KEY QUOTE
“Drug trafficking gangs such as Los Choneros, many with ties to powerful drug cartels in Mexico, threaten the lives and livelihoods of communities in Ecuador and throughout the region,” Treasury’s Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, stated in the release.
“We stand in support of Ecuador in its fight to combat drug trafficking, curb the proliferation of prison gangs and prison violence, and take back its streets.”
CONTEXT
The Treasury stated that Los Choneros has been involved in drug trafficking in Ecuador since the 1990s and accused it of being a significant driver of escalating violence in the country since 2020.
The gang’s leader, Jose Adolfo Macias, also known as Fito, has been on the run since disappearing on Jan. 7 from the Ecuadorean prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence for crimes such as drug trafficking and murder.
Noboa declared a two-month state of emergency shortly after Macias’s disappearance.
This was followed by an armed attack on a TV station and the taking of more than 200 prison officials hostage.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
