US designates Ecuador gang as terrorist organization

The United States designated Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang as a foreign terrorist organization Wednesday, pairing the move with a pledge to seek $45 million in security funding for Ecuador as Washington deepens cooperation with President Daniel Noboa’s government.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designation in Quito, where he met Noboa during a three-country South America trip focused heavily on security and counternarcotics policy. Rubio accused Los Tiguerones of narcotics trafficking and of carrying out attacks on civilians, law enforcement officers and journalists, including the armed takeover of a television station during a live broadcast in 2024.

“We are not talking about an ordinary mafia, nor are we talking about common criminals, we are talking about terrorists who, in many cases, possess weapons and equipment resembling the national armies of certain countries,” Rubio said.

The 2024 assault on TC Televisión became one of the most visible symbols of Ecuador’s surge in drug-related violence. Live footage from the El Noticiero news program showed armed men carrying pistols, shotguns, machine guns, grenades and sticks of dynamite. After the attack, Noboa declared a state of “internal armed conflict,” as authorities said foreign drug gangs had moved into Ecuador to control routes for coca grown in neighboring Colombia and Peru and shipped onward to the United States.

Rubio said the Trump administration would ask Congress for $45 million in additional funding aimed at “dismantling these terrorist groups.” He also announced a $10 million initiative to tackle illegal gold mining, gang recruitment and drug trafficking, and said Washington would provide Ecuador with a coast guard cutter and five interceptor vessels. Al Jazeera reported that those vessels would add to seven others delivered by the US earlier this year.

Rubio called Ecuador the United States’ “most involved and aggressive partner” in efforts to dismantle criminal networks and bring suspects to justice. He said elite forces from both countries were “working jointly on a day-to-day basis in a way that has no precedent in order to try to dismantle these terrorist organisations.”

“These are not ordinary groups. Clearly, they engage in common crime, but they have terrorist capabilities across the region, and that must be confronted,” Rubio said in Quito. “They must be dismantled, they must be defeated, and we are committed to doing that.”

The visit comes as the Trump administration expands its regional campaign against narcotics traffickers and illegal migration through security partnerships with right-wing governments. Several governments, including Noboa’s, have joined a US-led regional security framework called the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, which The Guardian identified as the “Shield of the Americas” coalition.

Ecuador has moved toward a harder security posture under Noboa, who first took office after the government was abruptly dissolved in 2023 and won re-election in 2025 after campaigning on a crackdown on crime. His government has deployed thousands of military service members and police to areas hit by violence and has described the fight against drug traffickers as a “state of war.”

The United States has also intensified maritime operations against vessels it says are tied to drug trafficking. Al Jazeera reported that on Tuesday the US intercepted a vessel it said was linked to Los Choneros and transferred suspects to Ecuadorian authorities, the sixth such operation in less than two weeks.

The campaign has drawn scrutiny. The Guardian reported that US strikes on boats have killed at least 227 people whom the Trump administration has called drug traffickers without providing evidence. Al Jazeera reported more than 220 deaths in roughly 68 lethal strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since Sept. 2, 2025, and said some families, including in Ecuador, have accused the US of killing fishermen with no drug ties. Rubio defended the campaign, saying, “Our goal is not to go after fishermen. Our goal is to go after drug traffickers.”

Rubio visited Colombia on Tuesday, meeting newly inaugurated President Abelardo De La Espriella, who narrowly defeated leftist Gustavo Petro in June. The two discussed security and counternarcotics policy and signed memorandums of understanding on critical minerals and nuclear energy. Rubio is expected to travel next to Peru to meet Keiko Fujimori, who won a close July election and has promised an “iron fist” approach to crime.