Who are Los Choneros and Los Lobos, the gangs that the U.S. has declared terrorist organizations

This Thursday, September 4, the United States Government officially declared Los Choneros and Los Lobos as terrorist organizations, two of the most dangerous gangs in Ecuador.

This measure was promoted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in the context of a growing wave of violence in the Andean country and seeks to restrict the actions of these organizations, both financially and operationally.

Los Lobos, the most violent gang in Ecuador

Los Lobos are currently considered the second largest criminal gang in Ecuador, with an estimated 8,000 members, although their power has grown exponentially.

The organization was born as a splinter group from Los Choneros, now their most direct rival, and has actively participated in prison riots that in 2022 alone left more than 400 dead, according to data obtained from various sources.

Initially, their operations were limited to mountainous and jungle areas in the south of the country, but they quickly expanded their control to Guayaquil and Quito, becoming the dominant organization even in the capital.

Since 2016, Los Lobos have collaborated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) from Mexico, providing them with security and weapons to control cocaine trafficking routes through Ecuador. However, reports also link them to a new organization called Nueva Generación, in alliance with Chone Killers and Los Tiguerones, with the goal of disputing territories dominated by Los Choneros.

In addition to drug trafficking and extortion from prisons, Los Lobos have ventured into illegal mining, charging up to a 10% "tax" to miners operating in areas such as Imbabura. They are also attributed with links to Frente 48, a dissident group of the FARC in Colombia.

The group has been implicated in acts of political violence, such as the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in 2023, which demonstrated their power to destabilize Ecuadorian democratic institutions.

Los Choneros, a historic gang facing growing competition 

Los Choneros were for years the most important criminal organization in the country, with between 12,000 and 20,000 members at their peak. Founded in the 1990s in Chone, Manabí, the gang was originally identified as the armed wing of a Colombian cartel, with the goal of controlling maritime drug routes to Mexico and the United States.

Over time, they also partnered with Mexican organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, and expanded their control to coastal cities such as Manta. Their evolution led them to dominate several prisons in the country, from where they orchestrated micro-trafficking, extortion, and kidnappings, generating estimated annual revenues of USD 120 million.

Los Choneros's clashes with rival gangs such as Los Lobos have triggered violent prison riots, some of the bloodiest in Ecuador's recent history.

Their most well-known leader, José Adolfo Macías, alias "Fito", consolidated alliances with groups such as Los Tiguerones and Chone Killers, although the conflict with Los Lobos remained active.

Fito's escape in January 2024, when he was about to be transferred to a maximum-security prison, provoked a national crisis that included an Army offensive in the prisons and a violent response from the mafias, such as the takeover of a television network during a live broadcast.

Fito was recaptured in June 2025 in a bunker in Montecristi and extradited to the United States in July of that same year, amid a large-scale security operation.

This extradition marked a milestone in bilateral cooperation between Ecuador and the United States, and is part of President Daniel Noboa's "iron fist" policy against organized crime.