The Prosecutor's Office of Ecuador has filed charges at the last minute this Saturday against seven alleged intellectual authors of the assassination in 2023 of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Among those named are former Interior Minister José Serrano and former assembly member Ronny Aleaga, both with political ties to former president Rafael Correa.
Together with Serrano and Aleaga, three supposed leaders of the Los Lobos cartel have been charged, including its top leader, Wilmer Chavarría Barré, alias "Pipo," arrested in November 2025 in Málaga (Spain). The indictment also includes two other relevant members of the criminal organization: Luis Arboleda, alias "Gordo Luis"; and Esteban Aguilar, alias "Lobo Menor."
According to the Prosecutor's version, Serrano allegedly provided "sensitive" information about Villavicencio's movements to the criminal gang, while Aleaga was responsible for coordinating the logistics necessary to carry out the crime. Serrano currently resides in the United States and former deputy Ronny Aleaga is in Venezuela. The seventh accused is businessman Xavier Jordán, also based in the North American country.
The Attorney General's Office has requested the issuance of red notices from Interpol with the aim of achieving the location, detention, and subsequent extradition of all the accused who are outside Ecuadorian territory.
Prosecutor Ana Hidalgo indicated that the investigation allowed for the detection of signs of an alleged subsequent plan to hinder the clarification of the assassination. According to the Prosecutor's Office, those involved would have prepared judicial versions and communication strategies aimed at obstructing the progress of the investigations.
The defendants have been identified as indirect authors (intellectual), applying article 140 of the Comprehensive Organic Penal Code, which contemplates sentences of between 26 and 30 years in prison when aggravating circumstances related to the victim or the context of the crime are present.
The assassination of Villavicencio, carried out just eleven days before the elections, evidenced the profound deterioration of security in Ecuador, a country that during the first two decades of the 2000s had been considered one of the safest in the region.