In a move that has sent ripples through Latin America, the United States officially designated two of Ecuador’s most notorious gangs, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as foreign terrorist organizations on September 4, 2025. The announcement, made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Quito, marks an escalation in Washington’s approach to transnational crime—and signals a willingness to use military force against criminal cartels operating in the region.
Standing alongside Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa and Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld at the Carondelet Palace, Rubio declared, “This time, we’re not just going to hunt for drug dealers in the little fast boats and say, ‘Let’s try to arrest them.’ No, the president has said he wants to wage war on these groups because they’ve been waging war on us for 30 years and no one has responded.” According to The Associated Press, the designation gives the U.S. government sweeping powers: it can target gang members for lethal action, seize their properties and bank accounts in the U.S., and ramp up intelligence sharing with Ecuadorian authorities.
The move follows a dramatic U.S. military strike earlier in the week against Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, another group on the State Department’s terrorist list. That operation, which killed 11 people on a boat in the Caribbean, was described by Rubio as the opening salvo in a new campaign. “Frankly, it’s a war,” Rubio told reporters. “It’s a war on killers, it’s a war on terrorists.”
The Trump administration’s willingness to take violent action against criminal organizations has drawn both praise and concern across Latin America. While some leaders, like Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum, have warned that expanded U.S. military involvement could backfire or threaten national sovereignty, others have cautiously welcomed the prospect of greater security cooperation. “Those governments will help us find these people and blow them up,” Rubio said at the news conference, making clear that Washington expects its partners to play an active role.
In Ecuador, where violence has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic, the stakes are particularly high. Los Choneros and Los Lobos are blamed for much of the bloodshed that has rocked the country in recent years. These gangs are deeply involved in contract killings, extortion, and, most significantly, the movement and sale of drugs. The deadly competition for control of trafficking routes to the Pacific has spilled over into the country’s prisons, where, according to The Associated Press, hundreds of inmates have been killed since 2021.
President Noboa, a conservative businessman re-elected in April 2025, has made fighting organized crime the centerpiece of his administration. In January 2024, he declared a nationwide state of emergency in response to soaring crime rates—a move that many Ecuadorians supported, even as some critics warned it could open the door to human rights abuses. U.S. officials now say the rate of violent deaths in Ecuador this year is on track to exceed the record set in 2023, making it the most dangerous country in South America by this grim metric.
The U.S. designation of Los Lobos and Los Choneros as terrorist groups is more than symbolic. It opens the door for Washington to impose financial penalties on anyone linked to the gangs, and Rubio has hinted that more groups could soon be added to the list. The State Department will also spend an additional $13.7 million to help Ecuador fight drug trafficking and other crimes, including $6 million earmarked for drone equipment. The two countries are negotiating a new extradition treaty, and the U.S. is pushing for greater cooperation on deporting immigrants—including those who are not Ecuadorian citizens—back to Ecuador.
“You cannot have economic prosperity without stability, and you cannot have stability without security,” Rubio said during his visit. He warned that American companies would be reluctant to invest in Ecuador unless the country’s crime rate comes down. The U.S. is Ecuador’s largest trading partner, and both sides expect to announce a new trade agreement within weeks.
Ecuador’s crime wave is not just a local problem. The country’s strategic location and its use of the U.S. dollar have made it a magnet for criminal groups from Mexico, Colombia, and even the Balkans. According to the latest U.N. World Drug Report, cocaine seizures in Ecuador and other South American countries rose sharply in 2022. Traffickers have exploited Ecuador’s status as the world’s largest banana exporter, stuffing shipping containers with drugs bound for markets in the U.S. and Europe.
The roots of Ecuador’s current crisis stretch back several years. After the 2016 demobilization of Colombia’s FARC rebel group, coca bush fields and criminal activity shifted closer to Ecuador’s border. The resulting power vacuum allowed gangs like Los Choneros and Los Lobos to expand their influence. Cartels from Mexico—particularly the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa groups—have also established operations in Ecuador, further fueling the violence.
One of the most dramatic episodes in this ongoing saga was the extradition of José Adolfo Macías Villamar, the leader of Los Choneros, to the U.S. in July 2025. Macías, who had escaped from an Ecuadorian prison last year, was recaptured in June, just two months after being indicted in New York on charges of importing thousands of pounds of cocaine into the United States.
As Washington steps up its campaign against transnational crime, the region is watching closely. The recent U.S. strike against Tren de Aragua has been a stark reminder of the lengths to which the Trump administration is willing to go. Yet, the legal basis for such military actions remains unclear. Rubio declined to answer questions about the legal rationale, simply stating that the targeted boat and its occupants posed a direct threat to the United States. Venezuela’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, accused the U.S. of committing extrajudicial killings, saying, “They murdered 11 people without due process. I ask whether this can be done.”
For Ecuador, the hope is that closer cooperation with the United States will finally turn the tide against the gangs that have terrorized the country for years. Foreign Minister Sommerfeld welcomed the new areas of security collaboration, including efforts to crack down on drug trafficking, money laundering, and illegal mining. She also confirmed that Ecuador would accept deportees from the United States who are not citizens, but added, “We can reject those who are not positive for the country.”
As the U.S. and Ecuador deepen their partnership, the challenge will be to balance the urgent need for security with respect for sovereignty and human rights. For now, both governments appear united in their resolve to confront the criminal organizations that have turned Ecuador into a battleground. Only time will tell whether this new war on gangs will bring the peace and prosperity that ordinary Ecuadorians so desperately crave.
