Leader of Ecuador’s Los Lobos drugs gang captured in Spain

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said that the leader of one of Ecuador’s largest drug trafficking gangs was captured in an operation in which Spanish police also participated.

Los Lobos president Wilmer “Pipo” Chavarria was detained in the city of Malaga, according to the Spanish National Police.

President Noboa said Chavarria faked his own death, changed his identity, and hid in Europe while continuing to control criminal operations in Ecuador, including illegal mining and ordering murders.

His family claimed that he died of a heart attack due to Covid in 2021.

Both Ecuador and the United States have designated Los Lobos (The Wolves) as a terrorist organization.

One Publish on XEcuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg, who said he was in Spain with the police, said Chavarria’s capture was a “historic day” for his country.

Los Lobos is estimated to have 8,000 members and is one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Ecuador.

In June 2024, the US Treasury sanctioned the gang, describing it as a group with “thousands of members” that significantly contributed to the escalation of violence in Ecuador.

Violence and murders have increased in Ecuador in recent years became a major cocaine trafficking center and rival gangs vie for control. It does not produce the drugs, but it is next to major drug-producing countries such as Peru and Colombia.

President Noboa has defined his presidency by a harsh military crackdown on criminal gangs.

The high-profile arrest coincides with a referendum in Ecuador on whether to amend the constitution to re-allow foreign military bases in the country.

The United States maintained one on Ecuador’s Pacific coast until 2009; Then-leftist president Rafael Correa did not renew it and constitutionally banned it.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently toured military facilities in Ecuador.

President Noboa told the BBC earlier this year that he wanted US and European armies. He decided to join his “war” against “narco-terrorists”.

The United States is expanding its military operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. deployed troops and a naval strike force centered around the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford to the region.

He also carried out at least 20 attacks About ships allegedly smuggling drugs in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbeankilled at least 80 people.

No evidence has yet been presented about those on board, and some lawyers have argued that the attacks could violate international law.

Many Los Lobos members are in prison and the gang is thought to have instigated some of the protests in Ecuador. bloodiest prison riots.

The gang is thought to have links to the powerful Jalisco New Generation cartel in Mexico.