Overview
- The State Department’s Narcotics Rewards Program announced up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, a leader of Los Choneros who remains at large.
- Bermúdez Cagua is charged in the Eastern District of New York with international cocaine distribution conspiracy, international cocaine distribution, and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, in a case pursued under Operation Take Back America.
- Co-defendant José Adolfo Macías Villamar, known as “Fito,” was extradited to New York in July 2025, and Darío Javier Peñafiel Nieto, known as “Topo,” is in custody in Ecuador.
- Los Choneros was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorists on September 5, 2025, following OFAC sanctions issued on February 7, 2024, and the indictment alleges multi‑ton cocaine shipments, firearms trafficking, and directed violence.
- Tips can be sent confidentially to the DEA at Ecuadortips@dea.gov or +593 988292235 (text/WhatsApp/Signal), or to Ecuador’s Plan de Recompensas at 131 or informa@recompensas131.org.