The Ecuadorian police announced Friday the arrest of Julio Alberto M. A., also known as “Negro Tulio,” the leader of the Chone gang, in Panama. He is implicated in the murder of prosecutor Cesar Suarez in January 2024, who was investigating organized transnational crime in Guayas province.
On June 1, Ecuadorian authorities confirmed that Julio M., alias “Negro Tulio,” leader of “Los ChoneKillers,” arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador. He was detained alongside Alexandra E. in Panama through coordination with Panamanian authorities and Ecuador’s national police. The individuals are believed to belong to the terrorist group “Chone Killers.”
In January, prosecutor Suarez was gunned down in his car in Guayaquil. Two suspects were initially arrested for his murder, which police said had the hallmarks of an assassination. The arrest of “Negro Tulio” in Panama is a significant development in the case. Ecuador is currently engaged in a war against drug cartels that have been using the country’s ports to ship narcotics to the United States and Europe. The government has declared a state of emergency and deployed soldiers to prisons and the streets of Guayaquil, the nerve center of the anti-gang operations.
The capture of “Negro Tulio” comes as Ecuador is cracking down on powerful criminal gangs like Los Lobos, whose leader Fabricio Colón Pico was also recently arrested. These groups have been implicated in a surge of violence, including the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicenio last year.
However, the escalating violence has raised concerns among Ecuadorians, who recently voted in a referendum to approve stricter security measures to combat the crime wave.
Ecuador has become a hub for transnational criminal networks due to its strategic location between the world’s top cocaine producers, Colombia and Peru, and its large ports. Colombian armed groups, Mexican cartels, and Albanian networks all have a presence in the country, subcontracting Ecuadorian gangs for drug trafficking and money laundering operations.
