Washington Designates Ecuador's Chone Killers a Terrorist Group

An announcement that fits a broader campaign

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday the designation of the Ecuadorian gang Chone Killers as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist, a classification that freezes the group's assets in the United States and criminalizes any material support provided to its members.

This decision adds to an already long list of 18 Latin American gangs and cartels designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration since February, part of a declared campaign against what Rubio calls regional narcoterrorism.

The precise accusations leveled against the group

According to the State Department's statement, the Chone Killers help Mexican cartels move and export drugs to finance their terrorist and criminal activities, while having carried out numerous attacks against civilians, law enforcement and representatives of the Ecuadorian government.

Rubio stated that the group is also responsible for targeted killings of Ecuadorian public figures, including senior officials, a level of violence that he says justifies this exceptional classification reserved for the gravest threats.

An unprecedented crime surge since the pandemic

The Chone Killers are an offshoot of the Choneros, Ecuador's oldest gang, itself already designated a terrorist organization by Washington in 2020 for its close ties to major Mexican drug cartels, notably the Sinaloa Cartel.

Criminal violence in Ecuador has surged dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, turning a country once relatively spared by regional drug trafficking into one of the most dangerous zones in Latin America, according to several analyses cited by the international press.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's response

President Daniel Noboa had himself declared his country in a state of "internal armed conflict" in January 2024, an exceptional measure meant to intensify the fight against organized crime after a wave of attacks and spectacular prison escapes, including that of drug trafficker Adolfo Macías, leader of the Choneros.

The Ecuadorian government quickly welcomed the American decision, thanking Washington for its "firm support" of the head-on fight led by Noboa against the criminal organizations that have destabilized the country for several consecutive years.

Asset freezes and the criminalization of support

Designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization carries considerable legal consequences in the United States: an immediate freeze on all of the group's assets located on American territory or within the dollarized banking system, and federal criminal prosecution for anyone who knowingly provides material support to its members.

This classification also allows for expanded intelligence-sharing between American agencies and the Ecuadorian government, including information potentially usable in operations that could lead to lethal action against group members on Ecuadorian soil.

A tool already used with mixed results

Washington has already used this type of designation against other Ecuadorian gangs, notably the Choneros and the Lobos, last September, a strategy the administration presents as effective but whose real impact on reducing criminal violence remains difficult to measure objectively at this stage.

Regional security experts remain divided on the long-term effectiveness of these repeated designations, with some arguing they fragment large organizations without necessarily reducing overall violence, and others insisting they are an indispensable deterrent.

A systematic campaign against regional drug trafficking

Since February, the Trump administration has methodically expanded its list of terrorist designations targeting Latin American criminal organizations, an approach reflecting a declared intent to treat transnational drug trafficking as a national security threat equivalent to classic Islamist terrorism.

This strategy comes with a broader message about the need to secure the Western Hemisphere against transnational criminal threats that, according to Rubio, directly exploit porous borders and the institutional weakness of certain states in the region.

Criticism over the geopolitical use of these designations

Some international observers nonetheless criticize what they see as the political instrumentalization of terrorist designations, used in their view to justify an expanded American security and military presence in a region historically sensitive to any form of perceived interference from Washington.

The administration firmly rejects this reading, insisting that each designation responds to precise, documented and verifiable factual criteria regarding the criminal and violent activities of the targeted groups, without any hidden geopolitical agenda.

A signal sent to Latin American cartels at large

This new designation sends a clear signal to criminal organizations operating across Latin America: ties to major Mexican cartels, combined with acts of violence against civilians or government officials, now expose these groups to direct and immediate American sanctions.

Regional security analysts expect Rubio to announce further similar designations in the coming weeks, with the administration itself indicating that a legal process is underway to classify several other criminal groups in the region.

The potential impact on regional cooperation

Beyond Ecuador, this approach could strengthen security cooperation between Washington and other regional governments facing similar challenges, notably Mexico, Colombia and Honduras, where comparable transnational criminal dynamics continue to threaten local institutional stability.

This increased cooperation nonetheless remains contingent on each national government's willingness to accept a higher level of American security involvement, a politically sensitive tradeoff in several Latin American capitals historically wary of Washington.

A Western Hemisphere under multiple pressures

The rise of transnational criminal organizations in Latin America fits into a broader geopolitical context where Chinese economic influence and Russian interference in certain countries of the region further complicate Washington's ability to maintain coherent hemispheric stability.

Some analysts believe that drug trafficking and the institutional instability it generates create openings that rival powers like China could exploit economically, notably through investments in the port and mining infrastructure of countries weakened by criminal violence.

The need for a long-term vision

Faced with these complex dynamics, simply piling up one-off terrorist designations will probably not be enough on its own to guarantee lasting regional stability, which requires Washington to pursue a more comprehensive strategy combining security, economic development and institutional strengthening in the most vulnerable countries.

In this context, Ecuador represents both a credibility test for the Trump administration's security approach and a potential example for other countries in the region facing comparable criminal threats in the months and years ahead.

A favorable reception from regional allies

Several governments in the region welcomed this designation, seeing it as a positive signal of Washington's continued commitment to hemispheric security, at a time when several Latin American countries are struggling to contain growing transnational criminal violence on their own.

Ecuador's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publicly thanked the United States for this support, underscoring the importance of international cooperation in fighting criminal organizations whose reach extends well beyond Ecuadorian national borders.

More critical voices on the measure's real scope

Other observers, notably some human rights experts, question the risks of overreach in applying this designation, fearing that the broad definition of "material support" could potentially affect civilian populations living in gang-influenced areas with no direct link to their criminal activities.

These concerns, though legitimate from a human rights standpoint, do not fundamentally undermine the need to fight organizations responsible for documented political assassinations and systematic violence against Ecuador's democratic institutions.

A secretary of state who knows the region from the inside

Marco Rubio, of Cuban descent, has paid particular attention to Latin America since the start of his political career, a region he knows intimately and whose stability he considers directly tied to American national security, unlike some predecessors who handled the file with less consistency.

This personal involvement translates into a steady pace of terrorist designations since February, a strategy Rubio defends as necessary in the face of what he describes as a continuous deterioration of security in several countries in the region, from Ecuador to Venezuela and through certain areas of Mexico.

Consistency with the administration's broader doctrine

This approach is consistent with the broader security doctrine championed by the Trump administration, which holds that firmness toward external threats — whether from criminal cartels, authoritarian regimes like Russia and Iran, or rival powers like China — must remain a constant priority of American foreign policy.

The parallel between the firmness shown toward Latin American cartels and that deployed against China, Iran, Russia and North Korea is no coincidence: it reflects a coherent vision in which Western security is being contested simultaneously on several distinct geographic fronts.

A precedent for American hemispheric policy

The designation of the Chone Killers as a terrorist organization illustrates a broader evolution in American foreign policy toward Latin America, where the fight against transnational drug trafficking now occupies a central place comparable to that historically held by the fight against Islamist terrorism.

This evolution raises legitimate questions about the balance between security effectiveness and respect for the sovereignty of partner nations, a balance Washington will have to keep negotiating carefully in the months ahead.

A test for Ecuadorian stability

For Ecuador, this designation represents a further step in a prolonged fight against criminal violence that has transformed the country in just a few years, a file the international community will need to keep watching closely given its broader regional implications.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

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