Ecuador
2 items across 2 editions · last active 4 Jul
Current read Removing the group's main Sinaloa liaison, on the heels of "Fito" Macías's 2025 extradition, continues to degrade Los Choneros' top leadership; whether a rival faction fills the Sinaloa-liaison role Churrón held is the signal to watch, since that would mean the cocaine pipeline through Ecuador's ports is adapting rather than shrinking.
In the brief
No. IV · Saturday, 4 July 2026
Ecuador captures "Churrón," alleged Los Choneros-Sinaloa cartel liaison
What? Ecuadorian forces captured Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, alias "Churrón," in a July 2 raid in northern Guayaquil after an eight-month intelligence operation; US prosecutors have named him a top Los Choneros leader and principal liaison to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, and Washington had offered a $5 million reward for his capture. He will be held at Ecuador's high-security El Encuentro prison.
So what? Removing the group's main Sinaloa liaison, on the heels of "Fito" Macías's 2025 extradition, continues to degrade Los Choneros' top leadership; whether a rival faction fills the Sinaloa-liaison role Churrón held is the signal to watch, since that would mean the cocaine pipeline through Ecuador's ports is adapting rather than shrinking.
No. III · Friday, 3 July 2026
U.S. designates Ecuador's "Chone Killers" gang a foreign terrorist organization
What? The State Department designated Chone Killers — a splinter faction of the already-designated Los Choneros that has carried out assassinations of Ecuadorian officials and law-enforcement officers — as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist on July 1. The move, part of a broader Trump administration campaign against Latin American organized crime, was welcomed by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's government.
So what? The designation criminalizes material support to the group under U.S. law and will sharpen cargo and traveler vetting tied to Ecuadorian nodes in the broader Andean smuggling network; continued fragmentation of Ecuador's gang landscape bears watching for new trafficking corridors and alliances that could substitute for degraded groups.
Confirmed · Sources: U.S. Department of State · Al Jazeera (July 1–2, 2026)
Related
Mission areas Transnational Organized Crime
Region South America & Caribbean