Ecuadorian mob boss dubbed 'The Savage' escapes from jail

Another criminal mastermind known as ‘The Savage’ has broken out of prison in Ecuador as the country descends further into civil war between the army and warring gangs. Fabricio Colon Pico escaped alongside 37 other inmates from the Riobamba jail in central Ecuador earlier this week after armed thugs stormed the prison and took guards and staff members hostage. ‘The Savage’ was arrested just last Thursday having been accused of plotting to kill Ecuador’s Attorney General, Diana Salazar, and is already back on the streets following his jailbreak.

Pico is one of the top dogs of Ecuador’s Los Lobos gang, affiliated with Albanian mobsters who help their South American colleagues to export drugs to West and North Africa, then on to Europe. As with the other cartels, Los Lobos run drug trafficking operations, making much of their income by moving drugs purchased by Mexican cartels from groups in Colombia, then exporting the product from various ports on Ecuador’s coastline. But the group also controls much of the illegal mining sector in Ecuador, adding to their already vast wealth.

The Savage’s jailbreak comes just days after the escape from prison of Jose Adolfo Macias, aka ‘Fito’ – leader of Ecuador’s biggest gang Los Choneros – on Sunday. Since Monday, drug cartels have been waging a bloody campaign of kidnappings and attacks in response to a government crackdown on organised crime, prompting Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa to declare the country to be in a ‘state of war.’ ‘Yield to evil: never!’ the 36-year-old Noboa, in office since November, said in a video message broadcast on television Thursday. ‘Fight tirelessly: always!’

Ecuador’s armed forces are now engaged in a brutal standoff with the gangs, deploying more than 22,400 soldiers to put down a campaign of terror waged by gangs that has already claimed more than a dozen lives and seen prison staff [punished]. The gangs have also instigated numerous prison riots, set off explosions and torched cars in public places following their declaration of ‘war’. Groups like Los Lobos and Los Choneros coordinate closely with European crime syndicates like the Albanian mafia and Italy’s feared ‘Ndrangheta to export their product.

Albanian ‘capos’ and their henchmen tightly control each link in the trade chain from Ecuador to the end point – the £2bn cocaine market in virtually all the main city and suburban areas of Britain. Albanians began arriving in Ecuador a decade ago, not long after then President Correa decided foreigners could stay for six months without a visa. In effect, he was opening the doors to the Albanian traffickers – for whom it was too good an opportunity to turn down.

For many, day-to-day life in many cities including Esmeraldas and Guayaquil has become unbearable with protection rackets pushing many shops and companies out of business. Now, 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 Noboa has vowed not to yield in its ‘war’ with 22 criminal gangs. ‘They wanted to instil fear, but they aroused our ire,’ Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo said on social media. They believed they would subdue an entire country but forgot that the armed forces are trained for war.’

Criminal gangs in the country of about 17 million people are thought to have more than 20,000 members. Police said the death toll rose to 16 late Wednesday with a ‘terrorist’ attack on a disco in the Amazon that claimed two lives and injured nine people. Seven police personnel have been kidnapped in recent days, though only one remains in captivity. On Tuesday, attackers wearing balaclavas stormed a state-owned TV station in the port city of Guayaquil, briefly taking staff members hostage and firing shots in dramatic scenes broadcast live before police arrived.

Thirteen assailants were arrested, many of them young teenagers. This attack in particular gave rise to panic in the general population, with many people leaving work early, closing their businesses and running for the safety of home. Public transport has been reduced to a trickle, schools and universities closed and people urged to work from home, as terrified citizens are bombarded with videos on social media of purported assassinations of members of the security forces. Police have not confirmed any executions and insist the videos are part of a disinformation campaign.

Noboa has vowed not to bow before the violence, issuing orders to ‘neutralise’ the criminal groups responsible. ‘We are in a state of war and we cannot give in to these terrorist groups,’ Noboa told Radio Canela on Wednesday. Hundreds of police and soldiers have been deployed in a manhunt for Fito, with more units now tasked with finding ‘The Savage’.

The United Nations, United States, China and several other countries have expressed concern about the violence and offered support to Noboa. As the drug mafia has found a foothold in Ecuador in recent years, the country’s murder rate quadrupled from 2018 to 2022. Last year was the worst yet, with 7,800 murders and a record 220 tons of drugs seized.

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