Mexico arrests suspect wanted in the 2023 killing of Ecuadorian candidate and sends him to Colombia

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A man who is wanted in Colombia and Ecuador for the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito in 2023 was arrested in Mexico and transferred to Colombia, authorities said Wednesday.

Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales, an Ecuadorian national, arrived in Bogota on Wednesday, where he was intercepted at El Dorado Airport by Colombia’s migration authorities. No details were immediately provided about his immigration status or whether he was formally extradited.

Aguilar, known as “Lobo Menor,” is one of the alleged ringleaders of the Ecuadorian criminal gang “Los Lobos” and one of the country’s most-wanted fugitives, subject to an Interpol Red Notice — a global alert used to locate fugitives worldwide.

Mexican officials said that Aguilar was detected by authorities the moment he entered the country, so he was placed under real-time surveillance. Subsequently, using intelligence provided by Colombia, authorities said they obtained information that allowed them to pinpoint his location in Mexico City.

The arrest in Mexico — which authorities said was carried out without the “use of violence” — resulted in Aguilar being placed in the custody of the National Migration Institute to determine his legal status within the country, security officials said, without specifying if he had been deported.

“The individual was attempting to evade immigration controls by using a false identity as a Colombian citizen,” the Colombian migration agency said in a statement.

In April 2024, Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with Ecuador following a military raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito. The operation targeted former Vice President Jorge Glas, a corruption suspect who had been seeking asylum there since late 2023.

Representatives for Colombia’s foreign ministry and Colombia's migration agency didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to the Colombian police, Aguilar had reportedly entered Mexico from Medellin, Colombia, using a forged passport with the “express purpose of strengthening criminal networks in the region.”

On X, Colombian President Gustavo Petro highlighted the police cooperation between Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, hailing it as “a significant blow against transnational organized crime.”

In February, the Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office presented new evidence seeking to formally link three individuals — including Aguilar — to the Villavicencio case. These individuals allegedly played a logistical and operational role in the killing on Aug. 9, 2023, when the then presidential candidate was leaving a political rally in the northern sector of the capital.

In addition to the Villavicencio case, the police indicated that “Lobo Menor” allegedly has ties to Mexican cartels and to Néstor Gregorio Vera, known as Iván Mordisco — the leader of a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrilla group, whose members didn't adhere to a peace agreement signed with Colombia's government in 2016.

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