The daughter of a powerful gang leader in Ecuador feared for her life as gang members held her captive for four days in the mountains before they decided to free her and her friend on Sunday night.
Michelle Macías, the 19-year-old daughter of Los Choneros leader José 'Fito' Macías, and María Villavicencio, 21, were abandoned by the kidnappers in the town of Ligüiqui, 19 miles away from the central coast port city of Manta, where they were abducted Wednesday evening
'Horrible. They aimed at us. I thought they were going to kill us. But thank God we are alive and we are here at home with family,' Michelle Macías told reporters at her home Sunday.
Macías and Villavicencio had walked out of a beauty school they attend when they were intercepted by a group of armed men. Surveillance video shows Macías struggling with one of the kidnappers before she was shoved into a car, which was later found burned.
Macías, who participated in a beauty queen pageant in 2019, said the masked captors spoke for several days about releasing her and Villavicencio before doing so Sunday around 8pm local time.
She called the released 'a miracle of God' ... 'because the moment you are kidnapped, you imagine death, the first thing you see is death.'
However, Macías said the kidnappers 'were very good to us, they never abused us, they never hit us. They were always concerned.'
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Michelle Macías, whose father is the leader of Los Choneros, Ecuador's largest gang, was released Sunday evening after being held by kidnappers following her abduction last Wednesday. She and her friend, María Villavicencio, were walking out of a beauty school in the port city of Manta when they were intercepted at gunpoint. Macías that she and her friend were not harmed by their captors
José 'El Fito' Macías is one of the two leaders of Los Choneros, a gang linked to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's Sinaloa Cartel
Michelle Macías's kidnapping in Ecuador was reportedly ordered by Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera, leader of Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Her father, José 'El Fito' Macías, is the leader Los Choneros, a gang that controls most of the notorious Litoral Penitentiary in Guayaquil and is allied with the Sinaloa Cartel. The 19-year-old was freed by her captors Sunday
Witnesses told authorities they saw Macías and Villavicencio being taken from the car that was used in the abduction and placed in another vehicle.
The car was set on fire by the kidnappers, who later forced Michelle Macías and Villavicencio into a speedboat and escaped.
Ecuadorian newspaper El Comercio reported
