Authorities in Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States have jointly captured the wife and daughter of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as ‘Fito,’ the alleged leader of Ecuador’s notorious criminal organization Los Choneros. The two women, Inda Mariela Peñarrieta Tuárez and Michelle Jamileth Macías Peñarrieta, were arrested in Sabana de Torres, a town in Colombia’s Santander department, after entering the country illegally and living there undetected for roughly six weeks.
The operation, which involved Colombia’s Criminal Investigation Directorate, Interpol, the Attorney General’s Office, military police, Ecuadorian authorities, and the FBI, relied on tracking the women’s movements and financial transactions. During the raid, investigators found a forged identity document reportedly belonging to Fito’s daughter. Both women, who had been fugitives since 2025 and were subject to Interpol Red Notices, were transferred to Bucaramanga for identity verification before extradition proceedings tied to Ecuadorian money-laundering charges.
Peñarrieta Tuárez is accused of serving as a financial operator for Los Choneros, allegedly holding majority ownership in companies used to launder illicit funds. Her daughter is accused of funneling roughly $435,904 (about the same in US dollars) into Ecuador’s financial system between 2020 and 2024—far more than her declared income from selling clothing, accessories, and perfume could explain. Both are formally linked to Ecuador’s ‘Fito Money-Laundering Case.’
You can read the full original report at El Tiempo.
Source: La identidad falsa y las pistas que permitieron la caída de la esposa y la hija de alias Fito en Santander (eltiempo.com).
Image: kouk, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).