U.S. designates two Ecuadorian gangs as foreign terrorist organisations
發佈日期: 2025-09-05 22:01
TVB News
The United States is designating two Ecuadorian gangs as foreign terrorist organisations.
This marks the latest step by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to target criminal cartels in Latin America.
The announcement comes amid the fallout from a U.S. military strike against a similarly designated gang, Venezuela's Tren de Aragua.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement while in Ecuador as part of a trip to Latin America.
"Today we have designated as terrorist organisations two groups that operate here in Ecuadorian territory," said Rubio. "One is Los Lobos and the other is Los Choneros. We've designated them as foreign terrorist organisations and that brings with it all sorts of options for the United States to work in conjunction with the government of Ecuador in the future to stamp these groups out."
The terrorist designation, Rubio said, brings "all sorts of options" for Washington to work in conjunction with the government of Ecuador to crack down on these groups.
That includes the ability to kill them as well as take action against the properties and banking accounts in the U.S. of the group's members and those with ties to the criminal organisations.
Rubio said the label also would help with intelligence sharing. Los Choneros, Los Lobos and other similar groups are involved in contract killings, extortion operations and the movement and sale of drugs.
Authorities have blamed them for the increased violence in Ecuador.
This, as they fight over drug-trafficking routes to the Pacific and control of territory, including within prisons, where hundreds of inmates have been killed since 2021.
Ecuador is the world's largest exporter of bananas and traffickers find maritime shipping containers filled with them to be the perfect vehicle to smuggle their contraband.
Cartels from Mexico, Colombia and the Balkans have settled in Ecuador.
That's because it uses the U.S. dollar and has weak laws and institutions, along with a network of long-established gangs hat are eager for work.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa thanked Rubio for the U.S. efforts to "actually eliminate any terrorist threat."
However, the U.S. strike on Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang has somewhat overshadowed Rubio's visit to Ecuador.
U.S. officials say the vessel's cargo was intended for the U.S. and that the strike killed 11 people, but they have yet to explain how the military determined those aboard were Tren de Aragua members.
Rubio justified the strike by saying the boat posed an "immediate threat" to his country and U.S. President Donald Trump opted to "blow it up" rather than follow what had been standard procedure to stop and board, arrest the crew and seize any contraband on board.
The strike drew a mixed reaction from leaders around Latin America, where the U.S. history of military intervention and gunboat diplomacy is still fresh.
They stressed the importance of protecting national sovereignty and warned expanded U.S. military involvement might backfire.
