The State Department on Wednesday formally designated the Ecuadorian criminal group known as the Chone Killers as a foreign terrorist organization, escalating the Trump administration's campaign against Latin American drug cartels and their affiliates.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move, describing the gang as responsible for numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations. “Chone Killers is an Ecuadorian gang that has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in a statement.
Rubio also took to social media platform X to highlight the gang's role in the broader drug trade, asserting that Ecuadorian gangs assist Mexican cartels in moving and exporting illicit drugs. He emphasized that President Trump, working alongside Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, “will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists.”
Ecuador's foreign ministry welcomed the designation, stating on X in a translated Spanish post that cooperation with the United States is “fundamental to dismantling transnational mafias and guaranteeing the safety, stability and peace of all Ecuadorians.”
The Chone Killers are a splinter group of Los Choneros, which the U.S. already designated as a foreign terrorist organization after Rubio's trip to Ecuador in September. Los Lobos, another Ecuadorian criminal outfit, also received the same designation at that time.
In March, U.S. forces launched operations alongside Ecuadorian armed forces against what the administration calls “designated terrorist organizations” in Latin America. Noboa noted then that the U.S. had joined “regional allies” in his country's fight against drug cartels, pointing out that roughly 70 percent of the world's cocaine transits through Ecuadorian ports.
Noboa's aggressive anti-crime tactics have drawn scrutiny both domestically and abroad. In 2024, he authorized a controversial police raid on Mexico's embassy in Quito to arrest former Vice President Jorge Glas, a convicted criminal and fugitive.
The Trump administration has intensified its crackdown on Latin American gangs, including Venezuela's Tren de Aragua. Days before the Chone Killers designation, U.S. Southern Command killed Tren de Aragua leader Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, in a strike. The U.S. has also conducted a series of controversial strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, killing at least 212 since early September.
In the most dramatic escalation of what Trump has called an “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, U.S. forces executed a successful raid in Caracas, capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and bringing him to New York to face drug-smuggling charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
