Ecuador Sets 29 October Salcedo Extradition

Ecuador will hand a jailed businessman and a former police officer to US prosecutors in two weeks. Both men are linked to the investigation into the 2023 murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio.

The Salcedo extradition to the United States will take place on Thursday, 29 October, Ecuador’s interior minister has announced. Daniel Salcedo, a jailed businessman, faces five drug, weapons and money-laundering charges before a federal court in New York.

Ronald Herrera, a former police officer and protected witness in the Villavicencio murder case, will be extradited with him. Villavicencio was a presidential candidate shot dead in 2023, and Salcedo is a defendant in the case over who ordered the killing.

Interior Minister John Reimberg announced the date for both men on his X account on the evening of Wednesday, 14 October. Ecuadorian media including the dailies Expreso and El Comercio, the news site Primicias and broadcaster Teleamazonas quoted the post.

Reimberg opened the post with “Time is up for them!” in capital letters, and added that no one is above the law. He also wrote that no one is untouchable and that impunity in Ecuador is over.

Reimberg heads the Interior Ministry, which oversees the National Police, in the government of President Daniel Noboa . Noboa, a conservative business heir first elected in 2023, has made the fight against criminal gangs his central policy.

The extradition request rests on a case in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, based in Manhattan. El Comercio and Primicias both report that Salcedo faces five criminal charges there.

The first charge alleges a conspiracy to import Colombian cocaine into the United States, moved via Ecuador and Mexico. Two more are weapons counts involving machine guns and other weapons of war, allegedly used to guard the shipments.

The last two charges are money-laundering conspiracy and money laundering. They allege that the network converted drug profits into cryptocurrency before moving them into the US financial system.

Both outlets say the alleged conduct runs from 2023 to 2026. The case opened on Thursday, 14 May, when a federal judge in New York signed a warrant for his arrest.

Fernando Villavicencio, a journalist and former legislator, was shot dead after a campaign rally in Quito on Wednesday, 9 August 2023. He was running for president, and the search for whoever ordered the killing is still under way.

Herrera, a former National Police officer, is a protected witness in that investigation. In testimony described by Expreso and Primicias, he said Salcedo asked him in 2022 to monitor Villavicencio’s movements.

Both outlets say Herrera’s testimony also implicates José Serrano, an interior minister under former president Rafael Correa. No court has ruled on any of these claims.

Primicias reports that prosecutors call Salcedo a logistics and finance facilitator linking the alleged masterminds with Los Lobos gang leaders. The United States designated Los Lobos a foreign terrorist organisation in September 2025.

Ecuador’s National Court of Justice, the country’s highest ordinary court, granted both extraditions on Thursday, 1 October. Salcedo had first refused to consent at a hearing on Wednesday, 9 September, then changed his mind and accepted.

Herrera had already accepted, and the consent of both men meant the longer ordinary procedure was not needed. Under the ruling, the Ecuadorian sentences of both men are paused on handover so that they cannot lapse.

Salcedo has six criminal convictions in Ecuador and is held at El Encuentro , a maximum-security prison in Santa Elena province. El Comercio lists corruption, money laundering, procedural fraud and organised crime among his offences.

Primicias recalls that Salcedo was also named in a corruption scheme involving public hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic. Extraditing Ecuadorian citizens became possible after voters approved it in a referendum in April 2024.

The charges allege a network that moved Colombian cocaine through Ecuador and Mexico toward the United States. They also allege that drug profits were turned into cryptocurrency and moved into the US financial system.

Washington lists Los Lobos, the gang prosecutors link to the Villavicencio plot, as a terrorist organisation. The handover also shows Ecuador using the extradition of citizens that voters approved in 2024 to send suspects to US courts.

For travellers, the case changes nothing on the ground, and the guide on whether Ecuador is safe sets out current conditions. Visitors heading to the capital can also consult the Quito city guide .

The specific US charges against Herrera have not been published, though Expreso describes him as a co-accused in the drug case. It is also not known whether either man will cooperate with US prosecutors.

No date has been announced for a first hearing in New York, and Salcedo has not yet entered a plea there. No Ecuadorian court has ruled on his alleged role in the Villavicencio killing.

It is unclear how his transfer will affect the Ecuadorian case over who ordered the murder. Officials have not said how the two men will travel or where they will first be held in the United States.

Ecuadorian authorities plan to hand both men to US officials on Thursday, 29 October, two weeks after the announcement. Once they are handed over, the time limits on their Ecuadorian sentences stop running.

In New York, they are expected to appear before the federal court that requested them. The extradition does not close Ecuador’s own investigation into who ordered the Villavicencio murder.

He is an Ecuadorian businessman with six criminal convictions in Ecuador, held at the El Encuentro maximum-security prison. He is also a defendant in the case over who ordered the 2023 murder of Fernando Villavicencio.

Interior Minister John Reimberg said Salcedo will be extradited to the United States on Thursday, 29 October. Ecuador’s National Court of Justice approved the extradition on 1 October.

He faces five charges in the Southern District of New York, covering cocaine trafficking, machine guns and money laundering. The charges allege that drug profits were turned into cryptocurrency and moved into the US financial system.

He is a former National Police officer and a protected witness in the Villavicencio murder investigation. He will be extradited to the United States alongside Salcedo on the same date.

No, the court ruling pauses his Ecuadorian sentences on handover so that they cannot lapse. The Ecuadorian case over the Villavicencio murder also remains open.

Sources: Expreso, 14 October ; El Comercio, 14 October ; Primicias, 14 October ; Teleamazonas, 14 October ; El Comercio, the five US charges ; Primicias, the US charges ; Primicias, court approval, 1 October ; Vistazo, court approval, 1 October ; El Comercio, extradition hearing ; US Federal Register, Los Lobos designation ; Expreso, Villavicencio killing ; Expreso, 2024 referendum (all accessed 15 October 2026).

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind , Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error