Overview

• Specialized police and military units completed a 10-hour operation in Manta that ended with Macías hiding in a hole beneath a kitchen counter.
• His January 2024 escape from Guayaquil Regional Prison set off riots, bombings, kidnappings and an attack on a television station that left scores dead.
• Authorities have designated Los Choneros as a terrorist organization that smuggled U.S. firearms and distributed multi-ton quantities of cocaine through alliances with Mexican cartels.
• A federal court in Brooklyn has unsealed a seven-count indictment charging Macías with international cocaine distribution, conspiracy and firearms smuggling from the United States.
• President Daniel Noboa, who offered a $1 million reward for information leading to Macías’s arrest, hailed security forces and vowed to continue targeting gang leadership nationwide.