Rest of World News: José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of Ecuador's Los Choneros gang, is missing from prison, sparking a state of emergency. Authorities avoid confirmin
José Adolfo Macías Villamar, leader of Los Choneros, one of the Ecuadorian gangs considered responsible for a spike in car bombings, kidnappings and slayings, was discovered missing from his prison cell where he was serving a sentence for drug trafficking. Macías began serving a 34-year sentence in 2011, but his prison stays have been in style and comfort. It also led President Daniel Noboa to declare that the country had an “armed internal conflict."
Ecuador has dispatched 4,000 personnel from its armed forces and police to the Zonal 8 Detention Center in Guayas province – two days after declaring a state of emergency in the wake of the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.