U.S. declares Ecuador gangs terrorists; announces deal on foreign deportees

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in Quito that the United States is designating Ecuador’s Los Lobos and Los Choneros gangs as terrorist organizations, part of a broader campaign against Latin American cartels. He also said Ecuador has agreed to accept U.S. deportees under a new arrangement.

Rubio announced the decision on Thursday after meeting with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, saying the designation will allow Washington to freeze assets and share intelligence with Ecuador without restrictions.

Ecuador’s foreign minister, Gabriela Sommerfeld, said the two governments are modernizing a 150-year-old extradition treaty and confirmed that Ecuador will accept U.S. deportees as part of broader Trump administration agreements.

Rubio also announced $13.5 million in U.S. funding to combat drug trafficking and organized crime, as well as $6 million for drones to bolster Ecuador’s naval forces.

“These groups are a foreign threat that is affecting the interior of this country, and we are 100% committed to working together,” Rubio said.

Asked whether U.S. forces could carry out unilateral strikes in allied countries like Ecuador and Mexico, Rubio rejected the idea, saying cooperative governments would help identify and target cartels themselves.

“For cooperative governments there is no need, because those governments are going to help us find these people and blow them up if that’s what it takes,” Rubio said. He stated that Venezuela remains a major source of narcotics, calling President Nicolás Maduro “an indicted drug trafficker in the United States and a fugitive of American justice.”

Rubio confirmed that the U.S. is considering the possibility of stationing military personnel in Ecuador if invited by the government.

“Even here we had a military base in the past,” he said, referring to the Manta air base that U.S. forces left in 2009 at the request of then-President Rafael Correa.

Rubio said Correa “didn’t like us very much and, I guess, wanted to help out the drug traffickers.” He added: “If we are invited to return, it’s a very strategic point and we will study it closely.”

The announcements follow a week of heightened U.S. actions against drug trafficking in the region. On Tuesday, Trump confirmed a military strike that destroyed a drug-laden boat off Venezuela’s coast, killing 11 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a group Washington has described as operating under President Nicolás Maduro’s control.

The next day, Rubio met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, where both sides discussed security, border cooperation, trade issues, and efforts to dismantle cartels. His visit to Ecuador was the second stop on that trip, focused on expanding regional cooperation against organized crime.