Ecuadorian gang leader sought for presidential candidate’s murder captured. 11 hours earlier. Jaroslav Lukivand. K. Armstrong. La presente Decisión surtirá efecto el día siguiente al de su publicación en el Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea. Authorities report that the leader of one of Ecuador’s largest drug-trafficking organizations, Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales—known as Lobo Menor—has been apprehended in Mexico City. Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg stated that Aguilar was sought for his role in the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio and had acquired documents under a false Colombian identity. Mexico’s Security Minister Omar García Harfuch noted that Aguilar was subject to an Interpol red notice and is tied to drug trafficking, extortion, and killings. Colombian President Gustavo Petro called him “one of the world’s most notorious assassins,” adding that the arrest delivers “a significant blow against transnational organized crime” and underscores the success of cooperation among Colombia, Ecuador, and Mexico against multifaceted criminal networks. García Harfuch said the capture resulted from a joint operation with Ecuador’s navy, security, and migration officials. Villavicencio, a national assembly member and former journalist, was gunned down leaving a campaign event in Quito in August 2023. A year later, five individuals connected to the Los Lobos gang—including its then-presumed leader Carlos Angulo—were imprisoned for the murder. Prosecutors claimed Angulo, alias The Invisible, orchestrated the killing from his Quito prison cell, a charge he rejected. The U.S. last year designated Los Lobos a Foreign Terrorist Organization, blaming it for “terrorizing and inflicting brutal violence on the Ecuadorean people.” The group reportedly maintains strong ties to Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Ecuador’s position between cocaine giants Colombia and Peru has made it a major hub for drug shipments, with about 70% of output from those nations passing through. Five jailed for Ecuador presidential candidate’s murder. Ecuadorian candidate’s murder ‘orchestrated from prison’. Mexico. Ecuador.
