US designates Ecuador’s Chone Killers as terrorist organization

The United States has designated Ecuador’s Chone Killers gang as a foreign terrorist organization, escalating Washington’s sanctions campaign against Latin American criminal groups accused of drug trafficking and violence.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move Wednesday, saying the Ecuadorian street gang had also been classified as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” The designations allow the United States to impose sanctions on the group, its leaders and anyone associated with them. Any assets the gang or its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions are frozen, and those linked to the group can face U.S. criminal prosecution.

“Chone Killers has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio said the action was part of U.S. cooperation with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, whose government has pursued a sweeping campaign against criminal organizations.

“The Trump administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists,” Rubio said.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the designation and thanked Washington for backing Noboa’s strategy.

“The Government of Ecuador thanks the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against criminal organizations,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

Al Jazeera reported that Rubio also alleged Ecuadorian gangs help Mexican cartels transport and export illegal drugs, which he said fund “terrorism” and other criminal activity.

The Chone Killers are an offshoot of Los Choneros, CBS News reported. Los Choneros, named after the city of Chone, and Los Lobos are among Ecuador’s main drug trafficking and extortion gangs, with ties to international cartels, according to CBS News. The United States designated Los Lobos a terrorist organization in September.

The Trump administration has designated several other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. CBS News reported that Los Choneros was previously designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 2020.

Ecuador has shifted from one of South America’s safest countries to a major cocaine trafficking hub, CBS News reported, with gangs linked to Mexican and Colombian cartels driving violence. Last month, eight bodies were found in plastic bags in a narco-trafficking hotspot, according to CBS News.

Noboa, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces as part of a U.S.-backed crackdown aimed at suppressing gang activity.

CBS News reported that gang violence has continued after the June 2025 recapture of Adolfo Macías, Ecuador’s biggest drug lord and leader of Los Choneros, following his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July 2025, Ecuador extradited Macías to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.

The two countries have also stepped up security cooperation. CBS News reported that American commandos recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission along the country’s coast targeting a suspected criminal hub operated by an alleged narco-terrorist organization. The United States and Ecuador launched joint military operations in early March against “designated terrorist organizations” in the country.