Overview
- Spanish and Ecuadorian authorities arrested Wilmer Geovanny Chavarría Barré in Spain in a coordinated action, according to Interior Minister John Reimberg.
- Officials say he faked his death in 2021, assumed a new identity in Venezuela, obtained a Colombian passport, and entered Spain in 2022 to continue criminal activity.
- The Interior Ministry alleges he ran a trafficking ring with links to Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands and maintained ties to Colombian and Mexican cartels.
- President Daniel Noboa praised the cooperation, saying global partnerships are necessary to confront transnational crime.
- Los Lobos is described as a major gang moving cocaine to the United States and Europe, was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US in September, and operates in a country where murders rose 47% in the first half of 2025.