National emergency after jailed drug lord ‘Fito’ vanishes in Ecuador | DW News

National emergency after jailed drug lord ‘Fito’ vanishes in Ecuador | DW News

Ecuador has launched a nationwide operation to locate a drug lord who disappeared from jail the government has declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew while police and the Army search for The Fugitive he was sentenced to 34 years in prison in 2011 for crimes including murder and drug

Trafficking authorities said that four police officers have been kidnapped since the manh Hunts been underway Ecuador is on full alert its Army will be patrolling the streets for at least the next 60 days after the country declared a state of emergency they’re searching for adula

Maas known by a Alias fito he’s not just any escapee he’s the leader of one of the most powerful drug gangs in Ecuador who vanished overnight from a high security jail Searchers are continuing to confirm that he is defin Ely left a prison we noticed that one of the

Inmates detained in that social Rehabilitation Center was missing the National Police together with the Armed Forces continue the investigation the military and police have also been raiding detention facilities throughout the country they released a video showing detainees at of Rehabilitation Center stripped down to underwear for weapon search the measures have resulted in

Widespread unrest and prison riots the government has responded with a nationwide curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 5: in the morning they’re trying to send a stark warning to drug gangs to combat Gang Related violence that has exploded in recent years ecuadorians the time when those convicted of drug trafficking contract

Killings and organized crime dictated to the government in power what to do is over what we are seeing in the country’s prisons is the result of the decision to confront them this is why we and the government have taken action to regain control of Prisons that have been lost in recent

Years despite the stringent measures residents of the crime torn city guil where fito was in jail say it’s too late to control the situation it’s not going to be solved I believe that the laws themselves would have to be changed many things would need to be

Done but I think it would help at least reduce crime at night as gangs like the one fito heads fight over who will control major cocaine routes many here fear the prison security crisis will spiral further

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency for 60 days on Monday, a day after Adolfo Macias, leader of the Los Choneros criminal gang, disappeared from the prison where he was serving a 34-year sentence.

Noboa did not mention Macias’ possible escape in imposing the state of emergency, but said in an Instagram message that he won’t stop until he “brings back peace to all Ecuadorians.” Police say at least four police officers have been kidnapped in Ecuador following the declaration, and unrest was reported at several prisons.

Who is Macias?
Macias, 44, known as “Fito,” has been convicted of drug trafficking, murder and organized crime. On the day of his disappearance, Sunday, he was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security prison in the port city of Guayaquil from La Regional prison in the same city, where he was serving his sentence.

His gang, Los Choneros, is thought by authorities to be behind a surge in violence that reached a peak last year with the killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. The politician had said the group threatened him, but no charges have been brought against it or Macias over the killing. Los Choneros is believed to be linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. Macias has succeeded once before, in February 2013, in escaping from a maximum security facility, but he was recaptured a few weeks later. He is believed to have kept controlling his group from within the detention facility.

What does the state of emergency mean?
Under a state of emergency, the military can deploy onto the streets and into prisons. A national nighttime curfew from 11:00 p.m. to 05:00 a.m. has also been imposed. Noboa’s predecessor, Guillermo Lasso, often used states of emergency as a way to confront the wave of violence that has affected the South American country. Noboa himself, who took over in November, has said his government’s main objective is to reduce violence.

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