BOGOTA, Colombia -- One of Ecuador's most wanted drug traffickers was captured Sunday, years after he faked his death and moved to Spain.

Wilmer Chavarriais is believed to be the leader of Los Lobos, a drug trafficking syndicate that was recently designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.

When the military and police conduct raids in Flor de Bastión, a poor neighborhood in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s commercial capital, the streets empty, public transportation comes to a halt and proprietors shutter their shops.

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador on Sunday extradited to the United States the leader of a violent Ecuadorian gang who relied on hitmen, bribes and military weapons to do business. José Adolfo Macías Villamar, whose nickname is “Fito,” escaped from a ...

By Kimberley Brown Since September 2025, dozens of Indigenous leaders and organizations, land rights activists and nonprofits in Ecuador have reportedly been unable to access their funds, after a state institution blocked their bank accounts.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced that Wilmer Chavarria, also known as "Pipo," was seized in the Spanish city of Malaga in a joint operation with Spanish law enforcement. Spain's National Police shared an image on X of Chavarria, clad in a black and green tracksuit, being led by police officers towards a patrol car.