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Ecuadorian gang leader opposes U.S. extradition, calling it a 'setup'
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Crime & Justice

Ecuadorian gang leader opposes U.S. extradition, calling it a 'setup'

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • Wilmer Chavarría, alias 'Pipo', leader of Ecuador's Los Lobos gang, opposes extradition to the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
  • Chavarría claims the U.S. request is a setup in collusion with Ecuador to silence him.
  • He is also wanted by Ecuador for murder and faces a separate extradition request from his home country.

Wilmer Chavarría, identified as the alleged leader of Los Lobos, Ecuador's most powerful criminal organization, has refused extradition to the United States. The U.S. seeks his handover on charges related to the alleged trafficking of five kilograms of cocaine into California.

During an extradition hearing at Spain's National Court, Chavarría asserted that the U.S. request is a "setup" orchestrated in league with Ecuador. He fears that if extradited to the U.S., he would subsequently be "re-extradited" to Ecuador to be silenced.

It's a setup. What they want is to send me to the U.S. and then send me from there to Ecuador to silence me.

— Wilmer ChavarríaChavarría's statement during his extradition hearing regarding the alleged collusion between the U.S. and Ecuador.

Chavarría is also awaiting a decision on another extradition request from Ecuador, where he is wanted to serve a 16-year sentence for three homicides committed in 2010. He claims that Ecuador and the U.S. have an agreement to send him back to his country if the U.S. request is accepted and Ecuador's is rejected.

Kill me for having implicated President Noboa in the assassination of Villavicencio.

— Wilmer ChavarríaChavarría's explanation of why he believes Ecuador wants to silence him.

"It's a setup. What they want is to send me to the U.S. and then send me from there to Ecuador to silence me," Chavarría stated, according to legal sources. He further alleged that his implication in the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio was intended to silence him, suggesting a connection to current Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa. Chavarría had previously declared in a February interrogation that the Villavicencio assassination was ordered by Noboa, fearing the candidate's potential election victory in 2025.

Regarding the U.S. drug trafficking charges, Chavarría argued that the alleged events occurred in Mexico, not the U.S., and emphasized he has never set foot in the United States. He was apprehended in Málaga, Spain, in November 2025, having entered the country under a false identity from Colombia after faking his death in Ecuador.

I have never been to that country. I don't even have a dollar bill.

— Wilmer ChavarríaChavarría's denial of ever being in the United States, where he is sought for drug trafficking charges.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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