The Rise and Fall of Washo, Durán’s Criminal Puppetmaster

In the early hours of August 14, Ecuador’s police and prosecutors deployed one of the most significant security operations of recent years in and around Durán, a coastal municipality that has become an epicenter of violence in the country. 

The operation, called “Gran Fénix 38,” resulted in the capture of 24 people linked to the network of Julio Alberto Martínez, alias “Negro Tulio” or “La T,” the leader of a dissident faction of the Chone Killers gang and one of the most bloodthirsty criminals in Durán.

Among those captured were 10 public officials, including members of the fire department, the Durán Transit Authority (Autoridad de Tránsito Durán – ATD), the property registry, and the mayor’s office, whom authorities had been tracking for four months.

*This article is part of an investigation exploring criminal dynamics in Durán, Ecuador’s primary organized crime hotspot and one of the world’s most violent cities in 2023. Read the other chapters of the investigation here or download the full report (PDF) here.

On the one hand, the capture of these officials was unexpected news. Authorities were aware that Negro Tulio continued to manage his criminal operations in Durán from prison, where he had been held since June. But the Chone Killers were a group better known for their capacity for killing than for their ability to infiltrate a municipality. 

The operation revealed how Negro Tulio had infiltrated the municipal government of Durán, and together with corrupt officials, profited from the execution of public works contracts. 

Víctor Hugo Zárate, Commander General of the National Police, said in a press conference that Negro Tulio’s network influenced how contracts and jobs were awarded, and thus exercised “control and criminal dominion in these public institutions.”

On the other hand, this was not the first time that organized crime had rooted itself into Durán’s public institutions. In fact, Negro Tulio inherited this scheme from Washington Aquiles Sellán Hati, a key player in the municipality’s criminal machinery. 

Known as “Washo,” Sellán Hati had managed to amass enormous political, economic, and social capital in Durán through multiple channels: he extended his influence throughout the mayor’s office, lined his pockets with drug trafficking profits, leveraged his income through the use and abuse of public works contracts, and became the orchestrator of a sort of pax mafiosa among the municipality’s criminal gangs.

But, the Washo era came to a sudden end in May 2023, leaving the way open for Negro Tulio and plunging the municipality into a seemingly endless spiral of violence.

This story is based on more than a dozen interviews with people who knew Washo firsthand, experts who have closely followed organized crime and corruption in Durán, and current and retired mayoral and security officials. Many of them spoke to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Washo’s Story

For years, Washo, a heavyset man with dull eyes and a large nose, kept a low profile. In Durán, he was known as an enthusiastic businessman and the shareholder of various companies, including security service, sewage systems construction, and import-export firms. 

He was also known as a sort of “Robin Hood” for the aid he gave to communities, an organized crime expert and a former government advisor who have followed Washo’s case closely told InSight Crime. But, little by little, his name became known in the municipality for different reasons. 

Beginning in the run-up to the 2019 elections, Washo became a very close ally of former Mayor Dalton Narváez, according to several mayoral officials and incumbent and retired government officials. 

Narváez comes from a powerful family in Durán. His mother, Mariana Mendieta, was elected mayor in 2000. Narváez, who served as vice mayor under his mother, took office in 2008 after Mendieta resigned in the face of corruption allegations. After winning the elections in 2009, Narváez served as mayor for five years. In 2014 he lost his bid for reelection, but he ran again in 2019, winning the elections with 34% of the vote. 

In that election, Washo provided Narváez with security for the campaign, voter support in communities where he had influence, and possibly capital, according to sources. 

When InSight Crime asked Narváez about Washo, he admitted to having seen him and recognizing his name.

“I had to have known Washo Sellán because we are all from Durán, and we know each other. He had to have been in the campaign,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that I had any connection to his activities.”

He also denied receiving any funding from Washo for his campaign.

“I have not accepted, nor will I ever accept, financing from people linked to criminal issues,” he said.

SEE ALSO: How Ecuador’s Criminals Are Taking Advantage of Private Security Firms

Washo came to the attention of authorities in July 2021, after police captured him and three other men in an anti-narcotics operation. At the scene, authorities seized nearly two tons of cocaine camouflaged in pallets allegedly containing frozen seafood. 

While it is unclear when Washo started trafficking drugs, when Ecuador became a cocaine superhighway to the United States and Europe, he was in the right place: Durán. 

Durán’s strategic location across the Guayas River from Guayaquil, Ecuador’s drug trafficking heartland, has made the municipality a gateway, a storage site, and a shipping point for cocaine leaving through Guayaquil’s ports. This, combined with Duran’s chaotic development, lack of basic public services such as water, and systemic corruption, created a vacuum that organized crime — including Washo — has been able to exploit.

Shortly after being arrested that day in July, a judge ordered Washo and the others — accused of possession, distribution, possession, transport, and sale of controlled substances — to be remanded in custody. However, his defense filed for habeas corpus, claiming Washo was in a delicate state of health with primary arterial hypertension, acute respiratory insufficiency, and cirrhosis of the liver. And in October, his preventive detention order was lifted, and he was released in accordance with a National Court of Justice resolution.

After his release, Washo began to weave himself further into Durán’s communities, providing jobs and aid to those most in need, according to a source who knew Washo firsthand and a former government advisor and organized crime expert focused on Durán.  

“Washo’s people would send medicine to anyone who was sick, or they would buy a coffin for someone who died when the family was very poor,” said the former government advisor and organized crime expert in Durán.

In this way, Washo sought to gain legitimacy and secure the support and protection of several communities in Durán.

It became common to see Washo roaming the halls of city hall giving orders, multiple sources who worked or frequented city hall during the Narváez administration told InSight Crime.

“You would walk in to talk to the mayor and find Washo sitting on the couch,” the former government advisor added.

Narváez and Washo were also seen together at various social events. In photos obtained by InSight Crime, the two can be seen apparently partying. 

Narváez told InSight Crime that when he attended a party, since he was a public figure, he took pictures with “everyone.”

“But it’s not like we have any part of what (criminal actors) have done or are doing,” he said.

The Criminal Municipality

With Washo’s ties to Durán’s political elite, he was perfectly positioned to enter the web of public works, especially infrastructure, sewage, and street paving, the source who knew Washo, the former government official, and a Durán mayoral official told InSight Crime.

It is difficult to determine Washo’s exact modus operandi, but experts told InSight Crime that generally, when criminal groups set their sights on public works, they use “dirty” money to pay for labor and other necessary expenses. They then charge for their services and deposit the “clean” money into their accounts. Although the source who knew Washo firsthand said Washo used this approach, InSight Crime was unable to corroborate this information with other sources.

Between coordinating public works projects and laundering drug trafficking money, Washo was able to orchestrate a sort of pax mafiosa in Durán. The gang that controlled the territory where a public works project took place would get involved, hiring out a few of their members to the project, said the source who knew Washo firsthand, the former government advisor, and several current and retired government officials. 

In Durán, the two main criminal gangs, the Latin Kings and the Chone Killers, have been engaged in a war over territory since 2020. The public works hiring scheme directly benefited both gangs, leading to a de facto ceasefire in Durán.

“The gangs were working for him, so there was a period of peace,” a member of Durán’s security forces told InSight Crime.

SEE ALSO: Ecuador’s War on Gangs Stumbles in Key Coastal City

While Washo maintained a tense calm in Durán, he was able to acquire contracts from municipal institutions, sometimes without having to bid against other companies. This was the case in April 2023, when the Durán Transit Authority (Autoridad de Tránsito de Durán – ATD) put out a call for bids for the construction of a vehicle retention center. Official documentation shows that the company TRANSPORSELLCAR S.A — for a firm in which Washo held shares and his daughter, Nohelia Katherine Sellán, was the legal representative — was the only company that submitted a proposal.

“It might have looked like there was a competition, but that project already had an owner: Washo.” said a journalist InSight Crime consulted in the region.

Washo further spread his tentacles throughout various municipal entities and placed relatives in jobs in the mayor’s office, the ATD, and the fire department.

According to municipal payroll documents, several of Washo’s siblings have held different positions in the municipality in recent years. Angélica Rosaura Sellán Hati worked as an official of the justice directorate (Dirección General de Justicia, Vigilancia y Cuerpo de Agentes de Control Municipal); Jorge Washington Sellán Hati worked in the Operations Directorate of the ATD; José Luis Sellán Hati worked as an inspection and project specialist in the fire department; and Marjorie Mariuxi Sellán Hati worked as a firefighter and pre-hospital care technician for the fire department. Washo’s nephew, Jordan Michael Sellán Hati, also worked in the justice directorate.

“There are relatives, friends, cousins who belong to public institutions throughout the municipality, who move, oversee, and execute criminal operations,” said the source who knew Washo firsthand. “So the institutions became, so to speak, the source of work for the crime family.” 

Other members of Washo’s inner circle were hired at Durán’s Potable Water and Sewage Authority (Empresa Pública Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado de Durán – EMAPAD) and the land planning department (Dirección General de Planeamiento y Ordenamiento de Terrenos), according to the former government advisor and expert on organized crime in Durán, and several current and former municipal officials. 

Having eyes and ears in municipal institutions was key to Washo’s business. Both the fire department and the ATD manage public contracts that Washo strove to control, and with a member of his network in these entities, he obtained first-hand information about the planned works.

The ATD, for example, managed the contract for the construction of the vehicle retention center in 2023, and chose TRANSPORSELLCAR S.A., whose legal representative was Washo’s daughter, to carry out the work. There was a similar contract in 2022, for the “construction of the vehicle retention center and acquisition of cameras and campers for its respective operation,” for a value of $158,491 awarded to the company UNIVERCONSTRUCCIONES S.A., which had been incorporated by Washo in 2019. 

The ATD also controls permits and licenses, issues vehicle license plates, collects information on the movement of security forces, and collects money from fines. Permeating this institution provided Washo with intelligence on security operations that were key to the movement of drugs, current and retired government officials told InSight Crime. 

Meanwhile, the fire department, with its extensive vehicle fleet, guaranteed Washo an ideal means of transportation for moving drugs, as the trucks are not often inspected by authorities and have a large storage capacity, according to the former government advisor and current and retired government officials.  

Washo’s Downfall

By penetrating key positions throughout the municipality and weaving powerful alliances with the political elite and Durán’s two main criminal gangs, Washo became an untouchable figure. At least for a while.

Narváez’s departure would leave Washo without a foot inside the mayor’s office, so in 2022, with the elections a year away, he approached Luis Chonillo, according to a mayoral official and members of his campaign. Chonillo was running for mayor under his own political party and, despite his lack of experience in politics, was doing well in the polls.

Sources told InSight Crime that Washo invited Chonillo to several meetings. The then mayoral candidate ignored the invitations, sources said, and in August 2022, gunmen shot up one of Chonillo’s campaign events in the 28 de Agosto cooperative, in the eastern part of Durán. Chonillo was unharmed, and several campaign members said the attackers were not trying to harm the candidate but to send a message that if he continued to avoid Washo, his campaign would be targeted.

Versions of what happened after the attack vary. Two members of Chonillo’s campaign told InSight Crime that shortly after the incident, Washo’s representatives arrived at the campaign headquarters and insisted on meeting with Chonillo, who eventually agreed to the meeting for fear of reprisals. Another member of the campaign did not mention anything about the meeting between Chonillo and Washo. What sources agree on is that after the incident in 28 de Agosto, Chonillo was able to return to the area to do more political events.

“The second time we went with permission, and we toured the sector for several days, walking and everything,” said the mayoral official and member of the Chonillo campaign.

However, when InSight Crime asked Chonillo about Washo, he denied knowing or meeting him.  

“I have heard what was in the news at some point,” said Chonillo. “But since the campaign, I have been tight-lipped, and I have basically concentrated on my agenda.”

Chonillo won the elections in February 2023, but the security situation in Durán deteriorated soon after, and the mayor became the target of multiple attacks. 

On May 13, a day before Chonillo’s inauguration, two vans in which Washo was traveling with four members of his security team were hit by gunfire. 

Despite being shot seven times, Washo was not killed and was taken along with one of his workers to a health center for immediate attention. The other three individuals died at the time of the attack. Given the severity of Washo’s wounds, the odds of his surviving were slim. Three days later, he died.

The Rise of Negro Tulio

Shortly after Washo’s death, Negro Tulio took over his criminal infrastructure, replicating Washo’s model of systemic penetration in the municipality of Durán.

Together with members of his family, Negro Tulio acquired shares in various companies to win government contracts. In October 2023, for example, he and his wife bought 50% of the shares of the company Arkhe Proyectos y Construcciones S.A.S, according to a Connectas investigation. The municipality of Durán chose the company to rebuild a park in 28 de Agosto for approximately $189,000.

Negro Tulio also followed in Washo’s footsteps by placing members of his network in the fire department and the ATD, among other institutions. The members of the firefighters arrested in the operation in August 2024 oversaw the movement of arms and drugs in fire trucks and ambulances, according to the police investigation.

In fact, members of the fire department have been at the center of several scandals in recent years. Media outlets have reported on fire trucks that have been caught transporting drugs, and two firefighters were arrested in March 2024 for allegedly being involved in a shooting attack on two police officers in Durán, who were injured.

With the ATD, Negro Tulio has taken different approaches. In some cases, he used low-quality materials, which can shorten the work’s durability, thus ensuring new contracts for his companies, said Freddy Sarzosa, General Director of Police Investigations, during a press conference for the August operation.

SEE ALSO: Unpacking Criminal Violence in Durán, Ecuador’s Cocaine Warehouse

But Negro Tulio, unlike Washo, spilled blood and broke the de facto peace agreement in Durán. Thanks in part to the pax mafiosa that Washo orchestrated, throughout 2022 and until May 2023, the municipality registered an average of 11 homicides per month.

“(Washo) would say: if someone wants to cause chaos or for Durán to get out of control, I am in charge of making sure that this here stays the same,” said the source who knew Washo firsthand. “His security was so complete that with two or three calls he would control everything and maintain order in Durán.”  

However, after Washo’s murder, homicide figures multiplied. While in June 2023 there were 10 homicides, in July there were 65, according to data from the Ministry of Interior.

“By taking him out, taking Washo out, Durán got out of control,” he said.

According to authorities, Negro Tulio has been behind multiple notable murders in Durán, including that of land director Miguel Santos Burgos — who was working to help Durán residents living on seized land acquire property titles — in August 2023 and councilman Bolívar Vera in September the same year. According to General Freddy Sarzosa, Negro Tulio allegedly killed both officials to obtain benefits in the awarding of municipal contracts.

In addition, according to the investigation by the police and the Attorney General’s Office, during the execution of the 28 de Agosto park contract, a dispute arose within Negro Tulio’s organization. The conflict resulted in the murder of Miguel Lara Alao, the contract’s construction supervisor, at the end of June 2024.

More than a year later, it remains unclear who was behind Washo’s murder. The source who knew Washo and some former municipal officials have theorized that Negro Tulio may have sponsored the attack as a way to take Washo’s throne.

However, there is no evidence for this theory, and no authority has spoken out on the matter. But there is no question that Negro Tulio followed in Washo’s footsteps, copying his model of systemic criminal penetration in the municipality of Durán.

“(Washo) put it in all the criminals’ sight that getting into public works was possible for them,” said a government official with knowledge of Durán’s criminal landscape.