Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a terrorist designation for Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang and additional U.S. security assistance during a Quito visit focused on drug trafficking, organized crime and deeper regional cooperation.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expanded U.S. security cooperation with Ecuador on Wednesday, announcing new measures targeting organized crime as Washington seeks to deepen its campaign against drug trafficking throughout Latin America.
Meeting with President Daniel Noboa in Quito, Rubio announced that Los Tiguerones, one of Ecuador’s most powerful criminal gangs, would be designated a foreign terrorist organization. He also said the United States would seek $45 million in additional security assistance for Ecuador, including funding and equipment for counternarcotics operations.
“We are not talking about an ordinary mafia, nor are we talking about common criminals,” Rubio said.
“We are talking about terrorists who, in many cases, possess weapons and equipment resembling the national armies of certain countries.”
Los Tiguerones has been linked to cocaine trafficking, extortion, contract killings, arms trafficking and money laundering. The group gained international attention in January 2024 when armed men stormed an Ecuadorian television studio during a live broadcast, threatened employees and fired shots before authorities regained control. More than 25,000 people have been killed amid Ecuador’s surge in criminal violence over the past three years, according to official figures cited in reports.
Rubio also announced sanctions against seven unnamed former Ecuadorian government officials accused by the United States of accepting bribes and having connections with sanctioned criminal organizations. Washington additionally plans to provide Ecuador with a 110-foot Coast Guard cutter and five interceptor vessels, adding to maritime equipment already supplied this year.
The measures are part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy of treating some transnational drug organizations as national-security threats rather than solely as criminal enterprises. U.S. operations against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have intensified, with more than 220 people killed in strikes under the wider campaign, according to figures cited by Reuters. Human rights groups have questioned some of those operations, while U.S. officials maintain that targets are selected in coordination with partner governments to focus on traffickers.
Ecuador has become an increasingly important part of that strategy because of its location between Colombia and Peru, the world’s leading cocaine-producing countries, and its Pacific ports used by international trafficking networks. Criminal organizations with connections stretching from Albania to Mexico have competed for control of routes carrying cocaine toward North America, Europe and Asia.
Recent U.S.-Ecuador maritime operations have targeted vessels authorities accuse of supporting drug trafficking, including boats Ecuadorian officials said were being used as floating refueling stations for cocaine-smuggling speedboats. Some crew members were later released, while relatives of several fishermen disputed government allegations that the vessels were involved in trafficking.
Rubio’s discussions in Quito were also expected to include changes to extradition arrangements that would make it easier for accused organized-crime figures to face prosecution. Ahead of his trip, Rubio said Washington and Quito were working to modernize their bilateral extradition treaty.
Economic ties were another part of the administration’s regional strategy. Rubio said major U.S. technology companies including Google, Palantir and SpaceX were “establishing operations and digital infrastructure in Ecuador,” arguing that expanded American investment could accompany greater security cooperation.
The Ecuador stop followed Rubio’s visit Tuesday to Colombia, where he met newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella and pledged to restore what he called “natural relations” between Washington and Bogotá. Discussions included potential U.S. assistance involving military equipment, specialized training, intelligence and counternarcotics operations.
Rubio’s three-country tour comes as the administration seeks closer cooperation with governments in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru while countering the influence of China, Russia and Iran across Latin America.
After Ecuador, Rubio is scheduled to travel to Peru, where President Keiko Fujimori took office July 28. Peru is joining the U.S.-backed “Shield of the Americas,” an initiative intended to increase intelligence sharing and coordinate action against drug trafficking and other transnational criminal organizations.
“We are synchronizing efforts to protect our hemisphere from transnational and regional threats by bringing Peru, now a major non-NATO ally, into the Shield of the Americas,” Rubio said.
The trip places Ecuador’s security crisis at the center of Washington’s expanding regional counternarcotics strategy, with the Los Tiguerones designation, additional maritime equipment, possible new security funding and closer operational coordination marking another step in the two governments’ campaign against organized crime.
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