Five days after the escape of public enemy No. 1 in Ecuador, Colombia reinforced its military presence on the border, fearing that “Fito” would come and take refuge in the country.
The leader of the Ecuadorian Los Choneros gang, Adolfo Macias, alias Fito, whose escape on Sunday from a penitentiary center in Guayaquil (southwest) started a cycle of violence against the authorities, could be in neighboring Colombia in state of alert, the army said on Friday.
Asked about the presence of public enemy No. 1 in Ecuador, General Helder Giraldo, commander of the Colombian armed forces, estimated that “it is possible, and that is why we have a large-scale device for (. ..) capture this terrorist”.
Strengthening the military presence
The general stressed to W Radio that around 200 of the 220 detainees who escaped from Ecuadorian prisons in recent days “were recaptured by the authorities” of Ecuador. “There remain 20 fugitives over whom we are very vigilant.”
The Colombian army is also monitoring the possible presence on its soil of Fabricio Colon Pico, leader of the Los Lobos gang, also escaped from another Ecuadorian prison.
Colombia on Wednesday reinforced the military presence on its border with Ecuador to prevent the passage of hunted fugitives. Peru did the same.
“The priority is to block the passage of these leaders (…), of these armed groups who, at any time, would like to enter the national territory,” added General Giraldo.
He said the Choneros and other criminal gangs in Ecuador, such as the Tiguerones, which operate in the border province of Esmeraldas, have “a close relationship” with Colombian armed groups such as the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a splinter group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Other prisoners
Colombia also fears Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s idea of returning 1,500 Colombian prisoners to the border, citing “international agreements”, to deal with prison overcrowding. Colombia rejects this unilateral measure and maintains that, in practice, this would amount to releasing these prisoners.
In the opinion of many in the two neighboring countries, Ecuador today is experiencing a situation increasingly similar to Colombia in the 1980s, then given over to the indiscriminate violence of drug lord Pablo Escobar, ultimately killed by the police in 1993.
However, on Friday, life slowly returned to normal after the terror sown by the gangs since Monday. The majority of stores have reopened and public transport has resumed.