Ecuador's Former Vice President, Arrested in Mexican Embassy Raid, Tied to Beheaded 'Los Lobos' Gang CJNG Trafficker

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Ecuador's former Vice President, Jorge Glas, recently appeared online for a hearing, hoping to be released from prison after his detention during an armed raid on Mexico's embassy in Quito, Ecuador, where he had sought and had been granted political asylum in Mexico. His release was denied as the judge ordered him to remain in jail due to his previous convictions, even though his arrest was deemed to have been illegal.

Glas was twice convicted of corruption and now facing new charges. Ecuador's authorities instead ordered a raid on the sovereign Mexican embassy grounds by a special unit of the Ecuadorian police to detain and arrest the former politician on charges of corruption and bribery related to government contracts given to large transnational Brazilian-based construction company Odebrecht.

He has not, as of yet, been charged with any conspiracies related to Ecuador's drug trafficking and gang activity. One of Ecuador's late primary gang leaders and logistics financier for CJNG drug trafficking is said to have paid $250,000 for Jorge Glas and Daniel Salcedo to be released from prison in 2022.

His arrest came after months of tension between the two countries, and large-scale drug violence in Ecuador that further escalated after the assassination of a Presidential candidate last year.

Police forcefully entered Mexico's embassy in Quito before making the arrest, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador posted on X.

Corruption Charges

Glas was Vice President to former President Rafael Correa between 2013 and 2017 and is now facing fresh charges of misuse of public resources. He was first sentenced to 6 years in late 2017 after a court found him guilty of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in return for handing the scandal-choked firm state contracts. The company admitted to bribing several governments. He was convicted again in 2020 of using money from contractors to fund campaigns for Correa's political movement and given an 8-year sentence.

Correa has lived in Belgium since he left office, and was convicted in the same case. Glas served more than 4 years in prison before being released in 2022, only to be jailed again the same year, after a court ruled he needed to serve the remainder of his sentences, though his lawyers had requested he serve them concurrently and benefit from parole. He was last released in November 2022.

Glas has a preventive arrest warrant out on another corruption case and had complained that he is being persecuted for political motivations, which Ecuador's government denies. Glas faces new charges of misusing funds collected to aid the reconstruction of coastal Manabi after a devastating 2016 earthquake.

Seeking Asylum

Glas sought asylum in Mexico in December 2023 as his lawyers appealed a judge's order to jail Glas before his trial. His lawyers claimed that his life would be in danger in prison. So, he had been living in the Mexican Embassy in Ecuador as his asylum was being processed. Mexico granted him asylum earlier in the day of his arrest on Friday night, April 5.

Ecuadorean authorities had sought permission from Mexico to enter the embassy to arrest Glas since March. In a statement, Ecuador's President, Daniel Noboa, accused Mexico of "having abused the immunities and privileges granted to the diplomatic mission that housed the former vice president, and granting diplomatic asylum contrary to the conventional legal framework."

Ecuador has argued that Mexico's granting of asylum to Glas violates international laws that prohibit granting asylum to people facing criminal charges. Glas had been convicted twice of corruption and facing a third, separate charge. 

"What they were looking for is for us to accept that they enter the Embassy or for us to hand over the vice president to them. We cannot do that, that is a question of principles. Mexico's foreign policy is characterized by protecting politically persecuted people," Lopez Obrador had stated when granting Glas asylum.

A young "El Patron" and former President Correa.

Drug Trafficker Bribes for Glas' Release

In addition to being accused of corruption and embezzlement, past investigations indicate that the former Vice President had links to drug trafficking as well.

In April 2022, Jorge Glas had been temporarily released while the appeals against his conviction were resolved. According to the Attorney General of Ecuador, Glas was released from prison after reaching an agreement with Leandro Antonio Norero Tigua, known as "El Patrón" one of the main drug traffickers in the country and late leader of the Los Lobos gang.

According to the authorities report released last December, in exchange for the promise of “future favors,” Norero paid $250,000 in bribes to judicial officials, which ultimately resulted in the release of the former Vice President. Norero wanted to collect this ‘little favor’ when Glas is president.

“Because part of the strategy of organized crime is to have political control, control of the authorities. How do they control the authorities? Delivering favors and then collecting them,” Prosecutor Diana Salazar commented. “That is the level of putrefaction that we have been able to reveal in this plot of the Metastasis case,” said Salazar.

After Norero's arrest, a photograph from 2009 circulated in which he (center) was apparently seen alongside then-President Correa and former Minister Ricardo Patiño.

Last month in March, testimony was given by a former inmate with "El Patron," Marcelo Nicolás LA, who stated he saw Norero communicating with Correa, currently in exile in Belgium. When he was asked by Salazar how he knew it was Rafael Correa, he responded that the communications were by video call and that he saw Rafael Correa.

These conversations were about the freedom of former Vice President Jorge Glas, who at that time was in Latacunga prison. According to Marcelo Nicolás LA, it was important to gain Glas' freedom so that he could be a Presidential candidate again.

Since Marcelo spent all his time with Norero, he says that he saw all the messages he exchanged on his cell phone with other prisoners such as aliases Fito, Junior, Willy, and Choclo, among others, regarding the pacification of criminal gangs. Norero also was said to have had communications with former assemblyman, Latin King gang figure, and fugitive, Ronny Aleaga.

Glas' 2022 prison release was allegedly orchestrated by CJNG drug logistics financier and Los Lobos gang leader known as "El Patron."

Who was Ecuador's "El Patron"?

Although it was initially reported that he was originally from Peru, authorities later revealed that Leandro Antonio Norero Tigua was born in 1986 in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Reports indicated that he financed and headed the local criminal gangs collective that included Los Lobos, Los Tiguerones, Chone Killers, and the Latin Kings. He had direct links with CJNG traffickers. 

Los Lobos allied themselves with and worked for the CJNG following a split from Los Choneros who work with the Sinaloa Cartel and European drug traffickers. 

At the age of 18, in 2005 he was arrested for illegal possession of a weapon. Over the following years, Norero reportedly received the support of corrupt politicians, which allowed him to organize drug trafficking networks from the ports of Guayaquil and Machala. In 2012 he was prosecuted for aggravated robbery and in 2018 for drug trafficking.

Unsurprisingly, those years fall on either end of Correa's Presidency from 2013-2017. He was previously part of the Los Ñetas band, which participated in a "pacification process" during the government of Rafael Correa (2007-2017). Norero was considered by counternarcotics and intelligence authorities to be one of Ecuador's top drug traffickers.

Following the dissemination of the photograph, taken in 2009, the former president maintains that his detractors "try to build a narrative of links to drug trafficking" and "to do so they count, as always, on the corrupt press."

Before being captured in Ecuador, Norero had been wanted in Peru for alleged trafficking of illegal substances. Norero's lawyers managed to allow him to escape by announcing that he had died from COVID-19. There were then reports he had died in Peru during a bus accident in 2020.

Norero gained more notoriety after the killing of Jorge Luis Zambrano known as 'Rasquiña' in December 2020. Rasquiña was the leader of Los Choneros, considered the armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel in Ecuador.

Leandro Antonio Norero Tigua was accused of ordering the murder of Albanian trafficker Ergys Dashi who was shot dead on January 23, 2022, at a restaurant in Ecuador.

He would also be responsible for at least 3 more homicides. Lawyer Harrison Salcedo was the defender of the Los Choneros gang leader. He also ordered the killing of journalist Gerardo Delgado, an execution he mistakenly requested, conversations reveal. The third case is Agustín Intriago, the Mayor of the coastal city of Manta. This slaying had links to his money laundering network.

He also had ordered surveillance of then-presidential candidate, Fernando Villavicencio, and outlined a plan to assassinate the Prosecutor who investigated the money laundering case. Villavicencio was assassinated in 2023.

!!WARNING: VERY GRAPHIC IMAGE BELOW!!

Beheaded in Prison

"El Patron" was arrested and imprisoned in May 2022 for money laundering; the month following Glas' release from prison. $7 million and gold bars were seized along with several firearms.

During a prison riot on October 3, 2022, "El Patron" was beheaded on video. His body was found with his clothes stripped and multiple puncture wounds and burns. He had been decapitated and dismembered. Clashes at the Latacunga prison, in Cotopaxi, left at least 15 other prisoners dead and 60 were injured. All of the inmates were dismembered and the victim’s heads were displayed hanging from the prison’s front gate.

You can watch the graphic video of "El Patron's" death here.

There have been questions about if "El Patron" truly was killed, beheaded, and dismembered in the prison, or if he had faked his own death yet again. Official identification came from fingerprints, tattoos, and his brother identifying the dismembered body.  

Mass Arrests of Politicians & Police

After the prison riot, prosecutors obtained 15 mobile phones owned by Norero. Around 15,000 pages of transcripts of conversations showed the links of Norero and his lawyers with judicial and government officials investigated for corruption, politicians, and even a journalist.

On December 14, 2023, more than 75 raids were carried out with 29 people arrested for organized crime and drug trafficking in relation to the evidence found on Norero's phones. Among them were the President of the Judicial Council of Ecuador, Wilman Terán, and the former Police General, Pablo Ramírez, as well as judges, prosecutors, and prison agents.

The director of the prison service was police general Pablo Ramírez, who later became National Anti-Narcotics Director. According to Norero's chats, in July 2022 the drug trafficker told his wife about the good treatment he received from Ramírez in the Latacunga prison. Even in a video, Norero says that he “has not been lucky enough” to meet Ramírez personally but has been told “wonderful things about him.”

Armed Raid on Mexican Embassy

Glas' defense team had argued the three-judge tribunal should declare his capture at the Mexican Embassy illegal and set him free. They stated that Ecuador's government violated his human rights and international law when security forces entered and raided diplomatic property.

The tribunal agreed the arrest "was illegal and arbitrary," Judge Monica Heredia said, but that due to the existence of previous convictions "this tribunal cannot modify the (jail) sentence."

Glas' lawyer Sonia Vera thanked the international community in a message on X, saying the support was vital for getting the arrest declared illegal. "However, Jorge is still detained," she said. "We'll appeal until he is free."

Former President Rafael Correa, whom Glas served under between 2013 and 2017, said this week Glas attempted suicide and was on hunger strike. Glas alleged that police beat him during his arrest, but police have said force was used progressively due to his resisting arrest. The government has also said Glas was planning to escape, though it has not provided details.

Mexico has called on the UN to suspend Ecuador if they do not apologize for raiding their embassy. The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, said this Thursday that the expulsion of Ecuador from the UN depends on the member states. The UN has expressed its "condemnation for the flagrant violations of international law...when the embassy was attacked."

Ecuador currently has a seat on the Security Council since 2022, within the quota of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

AMLO's "Unfortunate" Comments & Reaction

Before the arrest of Jorge Glas, Ecuador had declared the Mexican Ambassador persona non grata, citing "unfortunate" comments by the Mexican president about the recent election violence. 

The Mexican President had compared election-related violence in the two countries, alleging the murder of Ecuadorean Presidential Candidate Fernando Villavicencio last year was unfairly tied to the leftist candidate in the race, who subsequently lost. Lopez Obrador further blamed what he said was corrupt media for what he described as election manipulation.

Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa took office late last year and quickly faced escalating conflicts with cartel-connected drug gangs, prompting him to declare a nationwide state of emergency early this year, which was extended last month.

Lopez Obrador ordered the "immediate" suspension of diplomatic ties with Ecuador. Embassy staff would return to Mexico as AMLO called the arrest an "authoritarian" act and a violation of international law and Mexican sovereignty.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it will seek human rights protections for Glas from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, saying his right to asylum was "barbarously violated."

Sources Reuters, Infobae, Reuters, USA Crime, Krud Plug, El Pais, La Republica, BBC, Infobae, Infobae, Vistazo