Fugitive wanted in 2023 assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate is arrested in Mexico

A person who is needed in Colombia and Ecuador for the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito in 2023 was arrested in Mexico and transferred to Colombia, authorities stated Wednesday.

Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales, an Ecuadorian nationwide, arrived in Bogota on Wednesday, the place he was intercepted at El Dorado Airport by Colombia’s migration authorities. No particulars have been instantly supplied about his immigration standing or whether or not he was formally extradited.

Aguilar, referred to as “Lobo Menor,” is among the alleged ringleaders of the Ecuadorian prison gang “Los Lobos” (The Wolves) and one of many nation’s most-wanted fugitives, topic to an Interpol Pink Discover – a worldwide alert used to find fugitives worldwide. In September, Los Lobos was designated a terrorist organization by america.

Mexican officers stated that Aguilar was detected by authorities the second he entered the nation, so he was positioned underneath real-time surveillance. Subsequently, utilizing intelligence supplied by Colombia, authorities stated they obtained info that allowed them to pinpoint his location in Mexico Metropolis.

Mexican Safety Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch posted an image of Aguilar on X after the arrest.

The arrest in Mexico – which authorities stated was carried out with out the “use of violence” – resulted in Aguilar being positioned within the custody of the Nationwide Migration Institute to find out his authorized standing throughout the nation, safety officers stated, with out specifying if he had been deported.

“The person was trying to evade immigration controls through the use of a false identification as a Colombian citizen,” the Colombian migration company stated in a press release.

In April 2024, Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with Ecuador following a navy raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito. The operation focused former Vice President Jorge Glas, a corruption suspect who had been in search of asylum there since late 2023.

Representatives for Colombia’s international ministry and Colombia’s migration company did not instantly reply to a request for remark.

In accordance with the Colombian police, Aguilar had reportedly entered Mexico from Medellin, Colombia, utilizing a solid passport with the “categorical objective of strengthening prison networks within the area.”

On X, Colombian President Gustavo Petro highlighted the police cooperation between Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, hailing it as “a big blow towards transnational organized crime.”

In February, the Ecuadorian Legal professional Common’s Workplace offered new proof in search of to formally hyperlink three people – together with Aguilar – to the Villavicencio case. These people allegedly performed a logistical and operational function within the killing on Aug. 9, 2023, when the then presidential candidate was leaving a political rally within the northern sector of the capital.

Along with the Villavicencio case, the police indicated that “Lobo Menor” allegedly has ties to Mexican cartels and to Néstor Gregorio Vera, referred to as Iván Mordisco – the chief of a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group, whose members did not adhere to a peace settlement signed with Colombia’s authorities in 2016.

Final 12 months, one other chief of Los Lobos was arrested at his house within the coastal metropolis of Portoviejo. Carlos D, broadly identified by his alias “El Chino,” was the second-in-command of Los Lobos  and “thought of a high-value goal,” the armed forces stated in a press release.

In 2024, the United States declared Los Lobos to be the most important drug trafficking group in Ecuador. Whereas saying sanctions towards Los Lobos, U.S. officers stated the gang “contributes considerably to the violence gripping the nation” and its community contains 1000’s of members backed by Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación — New Technology — and Sinaloa Cartel, which makes the gang significantly harmful.

Felony gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the recapture in June 2025 of the nation’s greatest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads the Los Choneros gang, after his escape from a maximum-security jail in 2024. In July 2025, the Ecuadoran authorities extradited Macias to america, the place he faces a number of drug trafficking and firearms charges.