The network of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman also included Ecuador. His right hand in Colombia, Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa, known as 'JJ', opened three companies in this South American country, presumably used to launder money.

According to a US Department of Treasury report, JJ was Guzman's main associate in Colombia. He was captured on November 8, 2012 in Venezuela, and extradited to North America last December.

El "Chapo" Guzman, the world's most wanted drug lord, was captured in Mexico on February 22. He was the leader of Sinaloa's cartel, that uses Ecuador to ship cocaine to the United States.

Cifuentes coordinated drug shipments from Quito, according to his indictment in New York Southern District Court.

He used the alias Elkin de Jesus Lopez, a Colombian with an Ecuadorian ID, to set up the illegal companies.

The Peruvian newspaper La Republica says that Guzman was in Peru between June and July of 2008, quoting a report from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

An office located in Avenue de los Shyris and Naciones Unidas, in the north of Quito, is the official address of the three companies: Lineas Aereas Andinas Lincadisa, Gestores del Ecuador Gestorum and Comercializadora Empresarial.

These firms hold stakes in each other and according to US Department of Treasury, they are linked to Cifuentes, who figures as shareholder and chairman of Gestorum with his alias Elkin Lopez.

The three companies were established between April and October 2008. They are also related to the Panamanian company Federal Capital Group, established in June 2007 with a 20-million dollar capital.

The National Civil Aviation Direction said that even though Lincadisa obtained a freight transportation license, valid until February last year, the company never operated.

In May 2011 Lincandisa was closed due to its lack of activity and because its commercial address was unknown.

The police investigates the connection of these and other companies, as well as their financial operations. Several suspects (among them Colombian, Venezuelan, Peruvian and Mexican citizens) are being investigated for money laundering and straw ownership.

According to a report published after his arrest, "Chapo" Guzman had 288 companies all over the world.