Brian McDonald
The United States has sanctioned Los Lobos, a powerful criminal gang based in Ecuador with ties to violence across the country and drug trafficking in the surrounding region, the U.S. Treasury Department said. announced On thursday.
Sanctions were imposed on the trafficking organization and its leader, Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre, also known as “Pipo,” the Treasury said in a press release. U.S. authorities called Los Lobos the largest drug trafficking network in Ecuador and said the gang “contributes significantly to the violence plaguing the country.” Its network includes thousands of members supported by Mexico’s Jalisco Nueva Generación — New Generation — Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel, making the gang particularly dangerous.
“Drug trafficking groups linked to powerful drug cartels threaten the lives and livelihoods of communities in Ecuador and throughout Central and South America,” said Brian Nelson, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in a statement in the announcement of the sanctions. “As today’s actions demonstrate, we firmly support Ecuador in its efforts to combat drug trafficking and combat the threat of drug-related violence.”
The USA in February imposed similar sanctions about another Ecuador-based organized crime group — Los Choneros, as the country faced escalating gang violence following the disappearance of Los Choneros leader José Adolfo Macías Villamar from his prison cell in early January. Los Lobos and Los Choneros became rival forces.
Karen Toro/REUTERS
At the time, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa designated nearly two dozen criminal gangs, including Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as terrorist groups and said a state of “internal armed conflict” had taken over the country, according to the U.S. Treasury. . Recently, in May, Noboa declared a new state of emergency for seven of Ecuador’s 24 provinces as a result of ongoing gang violence.
American authorities say Los Lobos emerged as a branch of assassins working within Los Choneros, who came to power independently in 2020 when the murder of a former Los Choneros leader left cracks in the gang’s command structure. Los Lobos is accused of the murder of Ecuador’s 2023 presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, and gang members are believed responsible for deadly prison riots, as well as drug trafficking, murders for hire and illegal gold mining operations.
They also provide security services for the Jalisco cartel, which contribute to the cartel’s stronghold on cocaine trafficking routes around the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil, according to Treasury. O US State Department considers New Generation “one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world.”
bol co
jogo de terror online
novela sbt ao vivo
wishlist
musica terra seca
taça png
