**Los Choneros** is a major organized crime syndicate originating from Ecuador’s Manabí Province, specifically the city of Manta, which serves as a strategic hub for drug trafficking routes to Mexico and Central America[2]. Established in the 1990s, the gang has expanded its influence significantly, becoming one of Ecuador’s most violent and dangerous criminal organizations involved primarily in drug trafficking, extortion, robbery, and illegal mining activities[1][2][3]. They have entrenched control within Ecuador’s prison system, particularly in Guayaquil, running operations both inside and outside penitentiaries with the assistance of corrupt officials[2][4]. The gang’s leadership is centralized under José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias “Fito,” a founding member and sole leader since 2020. Despite being sentenced to 34 years in prison, Macías Villamar continues to orchestrate Los Choneros’ activities via illicit access to communication devices[3][4]. The gang enjoys alliances with international criminal networks, including the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, providing security and logistics for cocaine trafficking through Ecuador, which serves as a key transit point due to its proximity to cocaine-producing Colombia and Peru[2][3]. Los Choneros have expanded their violent influence into Ecuador’s Amazon region, exploiting illegal gold mining areas and controlling access with brutal enforcement, which has doubled violence rates in these zones[1]. Their operations have attracted international sanctions: in 2024, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the gang and its leader for their role in drug trafficking, and in 2025 the U.S. designated them as a foreign terrorist organization[2][3]. Their control of strategic drug corridors, prison systems, and violent enforcement tactics has made Los Choneros a critical destabilizing force in Ecuador’s security landscape, complicating law enforcement efforts and contributing to rising homicide rates tied to the drug trade[2