‘The Savage’ breaks out of Ecuador prison

Albanian-linked gang leader escapes from jail as criminal cartels escalate battle for power on streets

AN ALBANIAN-LINKED gang leader known as “The Savage” has broken out of prison in Ecuador as criminal cartels escalate their battle for power.

Fabricio Colón Pico was one of 38 inmates who escaped from the central Riobamba jail after guards were taken hostage amid a wave of bloodshed that has swept the South American nation in recent days.

The 44-year-old is understood to be the head of the Lobos, or Wolves, gang. He was most recently arrested four days ago for alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate Ecuador’s attorney general.

Allied to various Albanian mafias, the Lobos is believed to be responsible for shifting significant quantities of cocaine from neighbouring Colombia and Peru through Ecuador.

His escape on Tuesday came as Ecuador’s armed forces were engaged in a standoff with organised criminals, deploying more than 22,000 soldiers to put down a campaign of terror waged by gangs that has already claimed 16 lives.

With an armed presence on the streets, patrols by land, sea and air, random body and car searches, prison raids and the enforcement of a curfew, the government of president Daniel Noboa has vowed not to yield in its “war” with 22 gangs named as terrorist organisations.

“They wanted to instil fear, but they aroused our ire,” Gian Carlo Loffredo, the country’s defence minister, said.

“They believed they would subdue an entire country but forgot that the armed forces are trained for war.”

The recent outburst of violence was seemingly sparked by the escape of Colon Pico’s bitter rival, Adolfo “Fito” Macías, on Sunday from another jail in Guayaquil, the Pacific port that is the epicentre of Ecuador’s drug conflict.

Macías, 44, is head of the Choneros gang allied to the Sinaloa cartel of jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán.

While Mexican and Colombian gangs control the cocaine routes into the United States, where Guzman is imprisoned, the principal destination for the Albanian cartels’ illegal commerce is Europe, and in particular, the UK.

But despite their blood-spattered rivalry, which has seen repeated prison riots in which gang members massacre each other with machetes, the Choneros and Lobos now have a common enemy – the millennial Mr Noboa and his bid to wrest Ecuador back from the grip of organised crime.

Most Ecuadorians are desperate for an end to the bloodshed, which has sent this once tranquil Latin American backwater to the top of the region’s homicide charts.

Still, there are mounting concerns about Mr Noboa’s strategy, inspired in part by a crackdown in El Salvador led by autocratic president Nayib Bukele.

Astrid Valencia, Amnesty International’s head of Americas research, warned that Ecuador’s troops were not trained for the task they have been handed, adding their involvement in restoring order risked serious abuses, including forced disappearances and torture. “It’s very worrying,” she said. “The focus is purely punitive. We need a more integral approach, that provides sustainable solutions, with input from civil society, and with human rights at its heart.”

Ms Valencia’s remarks came after Mr Noboa’s move to declare a state of emergency this week prompted the gangs to hit back with their own declaration of “war” and threats to execute civilians and security forces.

The criminal groups are thought to have more than 20,000 members and were behind the on-air storming of a TV station, explosions in a variety of cities and a string of kidnappings of police officers in recent days.

Mr Noboa, a 36-year-old son of a banana baron, who took office in November, has also pledged to target judicial corruption as part of the government’s drive to stem the violence.

“This isn’t just about bullets,” he said on Wednesday, as he attacked the frequently “absurd judgments” favouring dangerous criminals handed out by Ecuadorian courts.

Colon Pico has been arrested 14 times since his teens on charges ranging from robbery to extortion and drug trafficking, but released six times by the same judge. In a defiant video released from his cell on the eve of his escape, he labelled the latest charges brought against him as “lies” and a “fairy tale” designed to “hide the wickedness” of the country’s authorities.

Hundreds of police and soldiers have been deployed in a manhunt for Colon Pico and his rival gang leader, dubbed the country’s “most wanted” criminal.