Three Los Lobos gang leaders jailed for Villavicencio's murder in Quito
An Ecuadorian judge ordered the detention of three Los Lobos gang bosses for planning the assassination of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023.
Ecuadorian justice orders imprisonment for three Los Lobos gang leaders for Villavicencio's assassination
An Ecuadorian judge issued a prison order on Tuesday for three senior members of the criminal gang Los Lobos for their alleged involvement in planning the murder of former presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, which took place in August 2023. This was reported by spectrumlocalnews.com, citing the General Prosecutor's Office.
The three implicated are Wilmer Ch., known as Pipo, currently detained in Spain; Ángel A., alias Lobo Menor; and Luis Alfredo A., alias Gordo Luis. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the three allegedly coordinated and supervised surveillance of Villavicencio and contacts with police officers responsible for his security.
A protected witness also identified Gordo Luis as the person who delivered a significant sum of money to a splinter group of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to hire the hired killers who carried out the crime.
Villavicencio was murdered on 9 August 2023 at the end of a campaign event in northern Quito. The politician had investigated and published complaints about corruption for years.
The case also involves other figures. José Serrano, a former minister under former president Rafael Correa, is imprisoned in Miami, whilst Xavier Jordán, who resides in that city, is being prosecuted in Ecuador for alleged corruption. The Prosecutor's Office also accused former assemblyman from the Citizen Revolution movement, Ronny Aleaga—currently out of the country—and Daniel Salcedo, who is already serving a sentence for bribery, of the alleged crime of murder.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, these four accused men allegedly formed a structure that sought to end Villavicencio's life "because of the corruption complaints" he made and that allegedly involved them.
In July 2024, a man and a woman were sentenced as the material perpetrators of the assassination to sentences of nearly 35 years imprisonment. Seven other people of Colombian nationality, accused of participating in the crime, were murdered in prisons in Guayaquil and Quito whilst serving preventive detention.
Source: Google News EC — Crime