U.S. ICE sends former Ecuador interior minister accused in candidate killing back to Ecuador

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported former Ecuador interior minister José Serrano on Friday, sending him back to face charges of facilitating the Los Lobos cartel’s killing of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023. Daniel Noboa publicly ridiculed the move, labeling Serrano a new “guest” of the notorious El Encuentro prison and taking a jab at former president Rafael Correa, who now lives in Belgium.

Serrano, who served under Correa from 2012 to 2016, is accused of relaying intelligence about Villavicencio’s itinerary to cartel leader Wilmer “Pipo” Chavarría and others. After arriving in Miami on a tourist visa in May 2021, he sought asylum five months later; a U.S. immigration judge halted his removal over potential torture concerns, but the Department of Homeland Security proceeded with the deportation. The Attorney General’s Office in Ecuador filed the indictment on August 6, linking Serrano and six accomplices to the murder that occurred shortly before the special election that brought Noboa to power. The episode underscores ongoing struggles over rule of law, political violence, and international cooperation in the region.