On Thursday, December 11, the United States announced a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture of the leader of the Ecuadorian criminal gang Los Choneros, Francisco Bermúdez Cagua, alias El Churrón.
“Los Choneros, one of Ecuador’s most violent criminal organizations, is linked to the Sinaloa Cartel and controls key cocaine trafficking routes,” the State Department said in a statement.
U.S. offers reward for Los Choneros leader
No drugs on our streets. No cartels in our neighborhoods. In partnership with Ecuador, we are offering a reward offer of up to $5 million for info leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Los Choneros leader Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, also known as “Churrón.” Send tips to… pic.twitter.com/WfmOWD8JPr
– US Dept of State INL (@StateINL) December 11, 2025
Last September, the Donald Trump administration designated the gang as a terrorist group, in line with Washington’s offensive against drug trafficking groups in Latin America.
The Department said Bermudez is the first member of Los Choneros to appear on the list of targets of the narcotics reward program.
“Bermudez Cagua, along with two other leaders of Los Choneros, were charged with conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and possession of firearms to facilitate drug trafficking. Two of them are in custody, but Bermudez Cagua remains a fugitive from justice,” he noted.
Previously, the Donald Trump administration had already applied economic sanctions to Los Choneros and specifically to another of its leaders, drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías Villamar, alias Fito, who was extradited from Ecuador to face drug trafficking charges in the United States.
Fito became the first Ecuadorian to be extradited to the United States since the Andean country once again allowed its citizens to be handed over to U.S. justice after approving a constitutional reform by referendum.
Since the beginning of 2024, the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa declared the fight against organized crime as an “internal armed conflict”, which made it possible to classify organized crime gangs as terrorist groups and to apply states of exception that included the militarization of prisons controlled by these structures.
With information from EFE
