Wife of drug trafficker Fito, deported from Argentina, released after arriving in Ecuador

Inda Mariela Peñarrieta, wife of fugitive Ecuadorian drug trafficker José Adolfo Macías, and their three children They were released late yesterday, eight hours after arriving from Argentinabecause they had no arrest warrants in Ecuador.

Peñarrieta, his four children and three companions who were arrested Thursday night in the Argentine city of Córdoba and were deported within hours and taken to Guayaquil with an Argentine Air Force plane, they left the Simón Bolívar air base at the end of this Friday afternoon, aboard armored vehicles that took them to their home, Teleamazonas reported, quoted by the Primicias newspaper.

Mónica Palencia, a minister in President Daniel Noboa’s government, quoted by the Universo newspaper, said that Fito’s wife and other relatives have no charges against him. nor “current arrest warrant for any crime.”

“From what I know, she (Macías’ wife) does not have a custodial status. What happened is that she was expelled from the Argentine Republic for an immigration issue. “I don’t know more, I understand that I wouldn’t have any problem with the Ecuadorian justice system,”

Regarding the legal status of the delegation, the state Attorney General, Diana Salazar, told Colombia’s NTN24 that proceedings are taking place regarding a previous investigation that remains confidential.

“We are carrying out the respective procedures taking a decision on the lady’s legal situation,” added Peñarrieta.

Suspicions

For at least seven years the Ecuadorian authorities have suspected Peñarrieta and have been investigating his case.arduous transition from nurse to wealthy businesswoman. The first case began on June 29, 2017. Prosecutor César Suárez – murdered this week in Guayaquil – filed charges for alleged organized crime against 21 people, including Adolfo Macías, alias ‘Fito’, who was already in prison then, as seven others charged in the case.

From prison, however, these people – in complicity with others outside the prison – were in charge of a dedicated structure Vehicle theft, hitman and extortion, in Manta.

The murdered prosecutor Guayas César Suárez, who was working as Manta’s prosecutor at the time, had intercepted several calls from the defendants. For this reason he asked for an expert opinion to be carried out on the voices of several suspects. On the list was Mariela Peñarrieta, wife of “Fito”.

Based on these indications, on October 4, 2017, Suárez requested Peñarrieta’s connection and 16 other people. In total there were already 38 defendants in that case. Among the elements presented by Suárez to link Peñarrieta were the calls and messages he had with “Fito.”

But in addition there was also a financial analysis report, in which the woman had turnover 1.1 million dollars and expenses of $108,000.

But, on November 11, 2017, prosecutor Suárez refrained from charging Peñarrieta, so the judge in the case dismissed her and exonerated her from alleged responsibility in this case, according to information reconstructed by Primicias.

According to the documents, Suárez presented the abstention sentence one day before the hearing in which it would be decided whether the defendants would be sent to trial.

In addition to Mariela Peñarrieta, they benefited from the abstention from the prosecutor’s sentence Suárez Jorge and Julio Peñarrieta Tuárez, the woman’s brothers and “Fito’s” brothers-in-law.

Trials and dismissals

Heyguilty of unjustified enrichment The next alarm about Peñarrieta was raised in 2020, the Prosecutor’s Office launched a previous investigation for money laundering, tax fraud and unjustified private enrichment, of several people close to “Fito”.

With reports from the financial system, the Superintendence of Companies, the Revenue Agency (SRI) and the Financial Analysis Unit (UAFE), he opened the tax investigation and filed a complaint for the three crimes against: Mariela Peñarrieta. Jorge and Julio César Peñarrieta Tuárez (brothers of Inda Mariela), also previously acquitted in the organized crime case. Ronald Macías Villamar (brother of ‘Fito’). Ramón Macías Intriago (cousin of ‘Fito’).

In Peñarrieta’s accounts, in eight banks and one cooperative, Between 2013 and 2019, $2.1 million in deposits were made. She is also a shareholder and director of the companies Queenwater SA and the heavy load transport company Jomavi SA, both based in Manabí.

Three months later, in November 2020, Judge Juan Espinosa accepted several defense arguments and dismissed all the defendants.

The Prosecutor’s Office appealed and the Provincial Court of Manabí revoked the dismissal order in February 2021. But in July 2022 the Criminal Guarantee Court of Manta, ratified the declaration of the judge of first instance, declaring the innocence of the accused.

All members of the group close to the pseudonym ‘Fito’ They legally entered Argentina on January 5 and stayed in a luxury house in the Cordoba countryside where they were detained, properties they would pay for in cash in November 2023.

They have arrivedA couple of days before Fito’s escape became known and there was no warning about them. Therefore, to obtain deportation, Migration, which depends on the Argentine Ministry of the Interior, had to cancel the temporary residence of these people.