Esteban Aguilar (alias 'Lobo Menor'), one of the leaders of Los Lobos, the largest criminal organization in Ecuador linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, was arrested in Mexico after being sought for allegedly planning the assassination of former Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, which occurred in 2023. The Prosecutor's Office linked him in February of this year to the ongoing investigation into the intellectual authorship of the crime against the politician, gunned down on August 9, 2023, as he left a rally by seven Colombian hitmen, just days before the first round of extraordinary elections. In addition to 'Lobo Menor', the Public Ministry charged in this case the top leader of Los Lobos, Wilmer Chavarría (Pipo), who was arrested in Spain last November and is awaiting extradition. Pipo, in turn, is trying to prevent this by making unfounded accusations against President Daniel Noboa, allegedly ordering the crime. Also in the maximum security Ecuadorian prison is Luis Arboleda (Gordo Luis), another leader of the criminal group, to whom 'Lobo Menor' will be sent once he arrives in the country from Colombia. In this case, former Correista minister José Serrano, detained last year by U.S. immigration services; businessmen Xavier Jordán and Daniel Salcedo, linked to various corruption schemes in Ecuador; and former Correista assemblyman and former Latin Kings leader Ronny Aleaga are also being prosecuted as alleged intellectual authors. According to the Prosecutor's Office, the three criminals 'coordinated the attack in advance' against Villavicencio 'with the support of armed irregular groups' at the request of Jordán, Serrano, Aleaga, and Salcedo 'in exchange for large sums of money'. One hitman was killed at the scene of the crime, and the others were killed a few days later in prison in still-unclarified circumstances. One of them said before being killed that 'Lobo Menor' and 'Gordo Luis' 'gave direct orders to the rest of the organization'. 'Lobo Menor' was sentenced in 2013 to 20 years in prison for the murder of Serrano's brother, but local media claim he had been on parole a few years ago, which allowed him to flee the country. He had a pretrial detention order in effect since February of this year when the Prosecutor's Office charged him with Villavicencio's murder. According to the Public Ministry, after the payment was made, Pipo 'activated the criminal structure' of Los Lobos and arranged for 'members of his organization to be in charge of communication, coordination, and supervision of the surveillance'. The Prosecutor's Office has stated that Pipo allegedly 'received confidential information about supposed police contacts involved in Villavicencio's security, which 'was presumably used and triangulated for the execution of the crime'. 'Lobo Menor', who is Pipo's stepson, allegedly 'had direct control of the armed group and was in charge of surveillance, meeting supervision, payments, and operations'. Meanwhile, according to the same prosecutorial thesis, 'Gordo Luis' was in charge of 'delivering a large sum of money' to a dissident group of the extinct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to hire the hitmen who assassinated Villavicencio. To date, five people, including Carlos Angulo (El Invisible), another Los Lobos leader who was also in charge of planning and logistics for the homicide from prison, have been sentenced to prison as material perpetrators. Another eight suspects, including the seven Colombian hitmen hired for the execution, are dead.
