Los Choneros

Los Choneros is an Ecuadorian drug cartel[2] from the town of Chone in the Manabí Province. They are accused of carrying out extortions, murders, contract killings, drug trafficking, and other crimes. They are present in much of the Ecuadorian coast. According to the National Police of Ecuador, they are the armed wing of a Colombian cartel with interests within the country. Its original leaders are imprisoned or were killed, and many have been part of the Ecuadorian most wanted list.

Los Choneros
Founded2005
Founded byJorge Bismark Véliz España
Years active2005−present
EthnicityEcuador
Leader(s)Jorge Véliz † (2005-2007)
Jorge Luis Zambrano (2007-2020) †
José Adolfo Macías Villamar[1] (since 2020)
Criminal activities
AlliesSinaloa Cartel
Rivals
  • Los Lagartos
  • Los Lobos
  • Los Tiguerones
  • Los Chone Killers

History

Los Choneros was formed around 2005 in the city of Manta.[3] In its beginning, it had eight members, aged between 18 and 30 years. Its founder and first leader was Jorge Bismark Véliz España, known as Chonero or Teniente España, said to have started out as a drug dealer in the city's barrios.

Initially, Bismark worked for the gang Los Queseros. However, at a party, the head of Los Queseros, Carlos Jesús Cedeño Vera, known alternatively as El Rojo or El Quesero, became enemies with Bismark, ordering Bismark's murder, which was attempted that night. In the attack, Bismark and his daughter were wounded, and his wife was killed. Bismark, among with family members, friends, and criminal associates, collectively Los Choneros, including the gang's future leader, Jorge Luis Zambrano, then a Los Choneros hitman, murdered Vera’s brother and son, Jhonny Verdy Cedeño Vera and Cristhian Jonathan Cedeño Briones. War thus broke out between the two sides leading to the extermination of Los Queseros. Several from Los Choneros survived, allowing them to continue with organized crime.[4]

On 28 December 2020, Zambrano, the leader since Bismark's 2007 murder, was murdered in Manta's Mall del Pacífico shopping center while he was in a cafeteria.[5]

References
  1. Mella, Carolina (13 August 2023). "Los Choneros: Fito, the gang leader who threatened to kill candidate Fernando Villavicencio, moved to maximum security prison". El País. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  2. "Seguridad: estas son las ocho bandas de crimen organizado declaradas terroristas".
  3. Carrión, Stalin (30 December 2020). "13 años le duró el 'reinado' a Rasquiña". Extra. Archived from the original on 4 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  4. ""Los Choneros", más de una década de violencia". El diario.ec. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  5. "Líder de la banda de Los Choneros fue asesinado a balazos en el interior de un centro comercial de Manta". El Universo (in Spanish). 28 December 2020. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
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