Beauty queen daughter and niece of powerful jailed gang leader are kidnapped in Ecuador

Beauty queen daughter of jailed Ecuadorian gang leader is kidnapped coming out of beauty school: Leader of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel ordered the nabbing as violence escalates

  • Michelle Macías and her cousin María Villavicencio were kidnapped in Manta, Ecuador, on Wednesday night after leaving the beauty school they attend
  • 19-year-old Macías is the daughter of Los Choneros gang leader José ‘El Fito’ Macías, whose organization is linked to the Sinaloa Cartel
  • Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reported Friday that rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel ordered the kidnapping of El Fito’s daughter and niece 
  • The Jalisco New Generation Cartel announced in a leaflet that was spread at the Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil that it was behind the abduction
  • It also claimed that it was the most powerful Mexican cartel operating in Ecuador
  • El Fito’s gang happens to control five of the 12 pavilions at the Litoral Penitentiary where more than 300 inmates have been killed in riots in 2021


The National Police of Ecuador have launched a search for the former beauty queen daughter and a niece of a jailed gang leader who were allegedly kidnapped under the orders of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico’s two most powerful criminal organizations.

A surveillance camera shows the daughter of Los Choneros leader José Macías, 19-year-old Michelle Macías, struggling with one of her captors before she was shoved into the kidnappers’ getaway vehicle outside a beauty school in the port city of Manta on Wednesday evening.

The second victim has been identified as 21-year-old María Villavicencio.

Their whereabouts remained unknown as of Friday afternoon. 

Michelle Macías was kidnapped Wednesday while leaving a beauty school in Manta, Ecuador. The 19-year-old is the daughter of jailed gang leader José ‘El Fito’ Macías, whose gang, Los Choneros, is linked to the Sinaloa Cartel

The National Police of Ecuador located the vehicle that was used in the kidnapping of Michelle Macías, daughter of Los Choneros gang leader José 'El Fito' Macías

The National Police of Ecuador located the vehicle that was used in the kidnapping of Michelle Macías, daughter of Los Choneros gang leader José ‘El Fito’ Macías

María Villavicencio, 21 (pictured), the niece of Ecuadorian gang leader José 'El Fito' Macías was kidnapped along with her uncle's daughter, Michelle Macías, on Wednesday night in Manta

María Villavicencio, 21 (pictured), the niece of Ecuadorian gang leader José ‘El Fito’ Macías was kidnapped along with her uncle’s daughter, Michelle Macías, on Wednesday night in Manta

Surveillance video shows Michelle Macías struggling with one of her captors before she and her cousin were kidnapped Wednesday in Ecuador

Surveillance video shows Michelle Macías struggling with one of her captors before she and her cousin were kidnapped Wednesday in Ecuador

Witnesses told authorities that saw Michelle Macías and Villavicencio being taken from the car that was used in the abduction and placed in another vehicle.

The car was set on fire by the kidnappers, who later forced Michelle Macías and Villavicencio into a speedboat and escaped.

Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reported Friday that the kidnappings were a direct order from Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, the leader the Jalisco New Generation, for whom the U.S. government is offering a $10 million bounty. 

The outlet that the cartel accepted responsibility for the abductions and claimed it was the most powerful Mexican criminal organization operating in Ecuador, in a leaflet floated around the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil. 

However, most of the prison is under the influence of Macías’ rival gang, Los Choneros. 

The group controls five of the Litoral Penitentiary’s 12 pavilions and is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel, the Mexican organization co-founded by El Chapo.

The gang is said to have been involved in the massacre of 68 inmates at the jail last weekend. 

José 'El Fito' Macías - Michelle's uncle - is one of the two leaders of Los Choneros, a gang linked to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's Sinaloa Cartel

José ‘El Fito’ Macías – Michelle’s uncle – is one of the two leaders of Los Choneros, a gang linked to Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán’s Sinaloa Cartel

DEA is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, who reportedly ordered the kidnapping of the rival gang leader's daughter

DEA is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, who reportedly ordered the kidnapping of the rival gang leader’s daughter

A source with knowledge of the incident told digital news outlet Infobae that the kidnappings of El Fito’s daughter and niece may have also been in carried out as revenge for the murder of the 15-year-old daughter of the Los Lobos gang’s leader, who is known as ‘El Sargento.’

The child’s killing was allegedly ordered by El Fito and his associate Alexander ‘Junior’ Roldan.

DailyMail.com could not confirm if Los Lobos is allied with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. The gang does have control of one pavilion at the Litoral Penitentiary. 

Michelle Macías's kidnapping in Ecuador was reportedly ordered by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, leader of Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Her father, José 'El Fito' Macías, is the leader Los Choneros, a gang that controls most of the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil and is allied with the Sinaloa Cartel

Michelle Macías’s kidnapping in Ecuador was reportedly ordered by Nemesio ‘El Mencho’ Oseguera, leader of Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Her father, José ‘El Fito’ Macías, is the leader Los Choneros, a gang that controls most of the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil and is allied with the Sinaloa Cartel

El Comercio also reported that the Police Anti-Kidnapping and Extortion Unit has been in constant contact with El Fito to help rescue his daughter. 

For Mexican organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel and Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Ecuador is a fertile ground for supplying drugs to the United States, Europe and the rest of the world.

Ecuador is suffering a wave of violence at its prisons, which house some 39,000 people. 

President Guillermo Lasso has pinned the blame on the Mexican criminal factions.

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