Ecuador’s declaration of an “internal armed conflict” and its unprecedented move to classify 22 powerful local criminal organizations as terrorist groups represent a necessary strategic pivot in the fight for security. This decision, validated by growing regional consensus and U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) designations, recognizes a critical geopolitical reality: Transnational criminal organizations (TCO) have evolved from profit-driven smuggling into a non-state actor employing political violence and challenging democratic sovereignty across the hemisphere.
When crime becomes terror
The designation, which Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced in early 2024, following a massive escalation in violence, is rooted in the gangs’ adoption of tactics designed to coerce the state and terrorize the civilian population — hallmarks of terrorism. The violence, which skyrocketed after 2020, is fueled by Ecuador’s status as a critical logistics and transit hub for global cocaine flow. Cartels from Mexico, Colombia, and even the Balkans have established footholds in the country. According to security analysts and investigative reports, these criminal networks heavily leverage Ecuador’s position as the world’s largest banana exporter, using maritime shipping containers filled with fruit as cover for massive cocaine smuggling operations.
“Ecuador is facing an alarming crisis. It is surrounded by Colombia and Peru, where the most powerful drug cartels operate,” Jorge Serrano, advisor to the Peruvian Congress Intelligence Commission told Diálogo in an April interview. “It also suffers the influence of Venezuela, where organized crime maintains alliances with international terrorist networks.”
This criminal escalation was demonstrated dramatically in January 2024, when the disappearance of Los Choneros leader, José Adolfo “Fito” Macías Villamar, triggered a wave of violence that included bombings, the kidnapping of police, and an unprecedented armed takeover of a national television station during a live broadcast.
These acts confirmed that the gangs — including Los Choneros (linked to the Sinaloa Cartel) and Los Lobos (linked to Jalisco New Generation Cartel) — actively seek to subvert and destabilize political governance. Their campaigns of terror are extensive, ranging from the murder of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in August 2023, allegedly orchestrated by Los Lobos; to mass murders within prisons; and to sustained attacks and threats targeting public officials, judges, prosecutors, and their families. These groups assert territorial coercion by imposing criminal governance and controlling drug trafficking routes to the Pacific, often extorting local businesses.
President Noboa recently reaffirmed the measure’s clear security objective and thanked the U.S. for its support, stating that the goal was to “actually eliminate any terrorist threat.”
Strategic tools and regional cooperation
The classification of these groups as FTOs by the United States in September 2025 is not merely symbolic; it serves as a catalyst for continent-wide cooperation, unlocking powerful legal and financial tools for all partner nations.
The FTO designation immediately triggers sanctions that freeze assets and property, denying the TCOs access to the U.S. financial system and pressuring foreign financial institutions to cease transactions with the designated groups. These extraterritorial sanctions are an essential tool for all regional governments seeking to disrupt the global supply and funding chains of these criminal organizations, think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) contend. Furthermore, the FTO classification elevates the status of the threat, fostering deeper intelligence sharing and coordinated military planning between counter-terrorism agencies across the Americas.
As U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated upon announcing the designations in Quito, this move brings “all sorts of options” for Washington to work in conjunction with the government of Ecuador to eliminate these threats. Prior to the meeting, Rubio said on social media that Ecuador and the United States are “aligned as key partners on ending illegal immigration and combating transnational crime and terrorism.”
U.S. support has been demonstrated through concrete operational assistance. This includes accelerated intelligence exchanges; specialized counternarcotics engagements for elite units, such as the air assault operations training provided to the Ecuadorian 9th Special Forces Brigade, an elite unit of the Ecuadorian Army, in August 2025. Ecuadorian Army Captain Darwin Venegas of the 9th Special Forces Brigade summarized the impact, stating, “We are the best and so is the U.S. military. Together, we’re even better.”
The assistance also includes significant material aid, such as over $13 million in new security funding and $6 million for drones for the Ecuadorian Navy. This strategic cooperation also includes legal expertise to fast-track the extradition of key criminal leaders, such as the extradition of Los Choneros leader alias Fito to the United States in July 2025 to face federal drug and gun charges.
Beyond the United States, neighboring nations have also reinforced their commitment to Ecuador’s security stability. Colombia, Peru, and Chile, facing the same expanding threats from groups like the Tren de Aragua (TdA), have intensified bilateral agreements to boost coordinated border patrols, share intelligence on TCO movements, and synchronize the targeting of illicit financial flows. This collective action ensures that TCOs cannot simply flee across a border to escape justice, creating a unified deterrent against criminal expansion across the Andean region.
A unified defense
Ecuador’s decisive action is part of a growing, necessary trend across Latin America to redefine the TCO threat and galvanize hemispheric security.
This shift is evidenced by the regional consensus demonstrated through the designation of the TdA — which operates throughout the Americas — as an FTO by the United States and a terrorist entity by governments like Argentina, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
By designating these entities as terrorist organizations, partner nations establish a common legal language and a unified front, recognizing that modern TCOs are sophisticated, highly organized security threats to state sovereignty. This strategic alignment underscores that the fight for stability in Guayaquil and the Ecuadorian coast is fundamentally a defense of democratic order for the entire hemisphere.
