MEXICO CITY — Ángel Esteban Aguilar Morales was arrested in Mexico City and transferred to Colombian migration authorities in Bogota. Aguilar arrived in Bogota and was intercepted at El Dorado Airport by Colombia's migration authorities. Aguilar is wanted in Colombia and Ecuador for the assassination of Ecuadorian presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito in 2023.

Mexican officials detected Aguilar upon his entry into Mexico and placed him under real-time surveillance. Authorities used intelligence provided by Colombia to locate Aguilar in Mexico City, where he was arrested without the use of violence. After his arrest, Aguilar was placed in the custody of the National Migration Institute to determine his legal status before being transferred to Colombia.

Aguilar was attempting to evade immigration controls by using a false identity as a Colombian citizen. The Ecuadorian national is known by the alias "Lobo Menor" and is one of the alleged ringleaders of the criminal gang Los Lobos. He is one of Ecuador's most-wanted fugitives and is subject to an Interpol Red Notice.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro called the arrest "a blow against transnational organized crime." According to Colombian police, Aguilar entered Mexico from Medellin using a forged passport with the express purpose of strengthening criminal networks in the region. Mexican Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch posted an image of Aguilar on X after the arrest.

In February, the Ecuadorian Attorney General's Office presented new evidence seeking to link three individuals, including Aguilar, to the Villavicencio case. These individuals allegedly played a logistical and operational role in the killing of Fernando Villavicencio on August 9, 2023, when he was leaving a political rally in the northern sector of Quito. "Lobo Menor" allegedly has ties to Mexican cartels and to Néstor Gregorio Vera, known as Iván Mordisco, the leader of a dissident faction of the defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group whose members did not adhere to the 2016 peace agreement with the Colombian government.

In April 2024, Mexico broke off diplomatic relations with Ecuador following a military raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito. The raid targeted former Vice President Jorge Glas, a corruption suspect who had been seeking asylum at the Mexican Embassy since late 2023. In September, the United States designated Los Lobos as a terrorist organization.