SUMMARY

Los Choneros and Los Lobos were the two largest prison gangs operating Ecuador in 2021. Until the end of December 2020 the groups were allies and Los Lobos was dependent on Los Choneros, the larger of the two gangs. However the assassination of Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias Rasquiña, leader of Los Choneros, sparked fighting over leadership. Los Lobos did not agree on the handing over of leadership to alias Fito, who was Rasquiña’s right hand.

In February 2021 Los Lobos coordinated attacks in three of Ecuador’s largest prisons against Los Choneros together with Los Chone Killers, Los Pipos and Los Tiguerones. The uprisings Los Choneros – Los Chone Killers, Los Lobos, Los Pipos, Los Tiguerones resulted in over 100 prisoners’ death. Later on in the autumn of 2021 in Litoral prison in Guayaquil, large scale in prison fighting between Los Choneros and Los Lobos broke out again resulting in 186 casualties among prisoners in two separate occasions.

The non-state conflict between Los Choneros and Los Lobos was first included in UCDP data in 2021. In September of that year, in prison fighting between the two gangs had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.