Angel Esteban Aguilar is suspected of masterminding the 2023 assassination of an Ecuadorian presidential candidate.Law enforcement authorities have announced that the leader of the Ecuadorean crime group Los Lobos was arrested at the international airport in Mexico City, where he attempted to enter the country under a false identity.The effort on Wednesday to apprehend Angel Esteban Aguilar, known as “Lobo Menor”, was described as a collaborative effort from Colombia, Mexico and Ecuador.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list“This result represents a significant blow against transnational organised crime and confirms the effectiveness of trilateral cooperation,” Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in a social media post.Petro described Aguilar as “one of the world’s most notorious assassins” and confirmed that he had been extradited to Colombia to face charges.Ecuadorean Interior Minister John Reimberg also hailed Aguilar’s arrest as a success.On social media, he explained that Ecuador’s national intelligence branch and its national police participated in the arrest alongside their counterparts in Mexico and Colombia. His message offered a warning to cartel leaders.“No matter where they hide, we will find them, and we will catch them,” Reimberg wrote.Ecuadorean authorities had sought Aguilar in connection with the 2023 assassination of anticorruption candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was running for president at the time.Aguilar has been described as the “mastermind” behind Villavicencio’s fatal shooting, which took place as the candidate left a campaign rally near the Ecuadorian capital Quito.In Colombia, Aguilar has also faced accusations of collaborating with the alleged drug-trafficker Ivan Mordisco, the leader of the rebel group Estado Mayor Central (EMC). He had b …
