Il Nuovo Postiglione - Colombia detains suspect in 2023 killing of Ecuador politician

Angel Aguilar is suspected of ordering the killing of Fernando Villavicencio, a former journalist turned anti-graft campaigner who was well placed in opinion polls ahead of the vote.

He was killed by gunmen riding motorcycles on August 9, 2023 as he left a campaign rally at a school in Quito.

Aguilar was arrested at Bogota's airport after flying in from Mexico on charges of membership in Los Lobos ("The Wolves"), Ecuador's largest drug trafficking gang.

He was also charged over his "alleged role as the mastermind" behind Villavicencio's assassination, Colombian authorities said in a statement accompanied by photographs of the drug lord in handcuffs.

Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro hailed the arrest, calling Aguilar "one of the world's most notorious murderers" in an X post.

The arrest comes with Ecuador and Colombia embroiled in a diplomatic and trade dispute that is escalating by the day, after Petro alleged his Ecuadoran counterpart Daniel Noboa's administration of a bombing on the Colombian side of the border.

"This outcome... confirms the efficacy of trilateral cooperation between Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico," Petro said on X.

Villavicencio's shooter was shot dead by the victim's bodyguards, and police later arrested six Colombians allegedly linked to the attack, but all were killed in detention.

In July 2024, Ecuador handed down jail terms of up 34 years to five suspects accused of involvement in Villavicencio's killing.

Another dozen people are currently on trial over the killing, which shook Ecuador's political landscape in an election that Noboa won with a promise to take a tough stance on drug trafficking.

Aguilar had received a 20-year jail sentence in 2013 for murder, according to Colombia authorities.

"However, after serving half his sentence in 2022, a judge granted Aguilar parole, a benefit he allegedly used to commit a slew of other crimes, some abroad," immigration authorities said.

His Los Lobos group is held responsible for crimes including drug trafficking, illegal mining, extortion and murder, and is just one of several banned organizations fueling spiraling violence in Ecuador.

M.Costa--INP