五名厄瓜多尔政商人物被美国起诉并逮捕：被控十余年经海运向美国走私可卡因
美国司法部纽约南区联邦检察官办公室11月5日宣布，五名厄瓜多尔人被起诉并逮捕，被控十多年来合谋将大量可卡因进口到美国。被告包括厄瓜多尔前国民议会议员、前市长及现任市长候选人，以及厄瓜多尔前总统之子等人。
纽约南区联邦检察官 Jamie McDonald 与缉毒局（DEA）局长 Terrance Cole 宣布了起诉的解封。McDonald 表示，指控显示被告在把厄瓜多尔变成主要可卡因中转枢纽的过程中发挥了关键作用；Cole 表示，政治影响、财力与关系都不能使任何人凌驾于美国司法之上。上述表述均为检方指控，被告在被定罪前推定无罪。
起诉书称，被告 Jaime Estrada Medranda（41岁）曾在国民议会代表 Manabi 省选区，当地沿海城市 Manta 是厄瓜多尔金枪鱼加工中心与主要港口之一；其父 Jaime Estrada Bonilla（71岁）曾任 Manta 市长、现正竞选同一职位，并曾任 Manta 港务局局长。父子二人还是一家 Manta 海运海鲜公司与一家厄瓜多尔职业足球俱乐部的所有人和高管。检方指控，他们多年以海鲜公司货运为掩护，与包括 Los Choneros、Los Lobos 在内的大型毒贩合作走私可卡因。
起诉书举例称，2023年5月27日，厄瓜多尔国家警察在 Guayaquil 港从该公司一个集装箱中查获约1,444公斤可卡因；2026年，Medranda 与 Bonilla 又被指派中间人 Geovanny Fernandez Menendez 与 William Jose Briones Lopez，与 Jacobo Abdala Bucaram-Pulley 商谈一笔约两吨可卡因经墨西哥转运美国的交易。Bucaram-Pulley 被指为毒品与枪支贩运者，是厄瓜多尔前总统之子。
五名被告均被控合谋进口可卡因（法定最低刑10年、最高终身监禁）、持有机关枪（法定最低刑30年、最高终身监禁）与合谋持有机关枪（最高终身监禁），实际量刑将由法官决定。Medranda 与 Bonilla 于11月2日在巴拿马旅行时被捕；Bucaram-Pulley、Menendez 与 Briones Lopez 于11月4日在厄瓜多尔被捕。本案由纽约南区联邦检察官办公室国家安全与国际毒品组办理，助理联邦检察官 Jonathan L. Bodansky、Jane Y. Chong、Jeffrey W. Coyle 与 Varun A. Gumaste 负责起诉，DEA、美国国务院、美国驻基多大使馆及厄瓜多尔、巴拿马两国政府参与协助。
（来源：美国司法部）
Five Ecuadorian Political and Business Figures Charged in the U.S. Over Decade-Long Cocaine Smuggling
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on November 5 the unsealing of charges against five Ecuadorian nationals who were arrested for allegedly conspiring to import vast quantities of cocaine into the United States for more than a decade. The defendants include a former member of Ecuador's National Assembly, a former mayor who is now running again for the office, and the son of a former president of Ecuador.
U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald and DEA Administrator Terrance Cole announced the charges. McDonald said the defendants allegedly played a critical role in transforming Ecuador into a major transit hub for cocaine reaching the United States and Europe, and Cole said political influence, financial resources and powerful connections do not place anyone beyond the reach of American justice. The charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
According to the indictment, Jaime Estrada Medranda, 41, represented a district in Manabi Province in the National Assembly that includes Manta, a center of Ecuador's tuna-processing industry and home to one of its largest ports. His father, Jaime Estrada Bonilla, 71, was the former mayor of Manta, is currently running for the same office, and was the former president of the Port Authority of Manta. The two are also owners and executives of a major Manta-based seafood company and an Ecuadorian professional soccer club, and allegedly smuggled cocaine disguised within the seafood company's shipments in partnership with large-scale traffickers, including the leaders of Los Choneros and Los Lobos.
In one example cited in the indictment, on or about May 27, 2023, the Ecuadorian National Police seized approximately 1,444 kilograms of cocaine inside the company's shipping container at the Port of Guayaquil. In another, in or about 2026, Medranda and Bonilla allegedly sent representatives Geovanny Fernandez Menendez and William Jose Briones Lopez to meet Jacobo Abdala Bucaram-Pulley, an alleged drug and firearms trafficker and the son of the former president of Ecuador, to negotiate the export of a purported two-ton load of cocaine to Mexico for further shipment to the United States.
All five defendants are charged with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, which carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison; possession of machineguns, which carries a mandatory minimum of 30 years and a maximum of life; and conspiracy to possess machineguns, which carries a maximum of life. Medranda and Bonilla were arrested on or about November 2, 2026, while traveling in Panama, and Bucaram-Pulley, Menendez and Briones Lopez were arrested on or about November 4, 2026, in Ecuador. The prosecution is being handled by the office's National Security and International Narcotics Unit, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Bodansky, Jane Y. Chong, Jeffrey W. Coyle and Varun A. Gumaste in charge.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice)
来源：美国司法部
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：位于 Washington 的美国司法部大楼。GSM联邦机构固定图库照片，摄影 APK，CC BY 4.0，来源 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington. GSM federal fixed image library photo by APK, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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