Overview
- The U.S. State Department has designated the Chone Killers as a foreign terrorist organization and labeled the group a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, triggering U.S. sanctions and asset freezes.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the designation followed alleged attacks on civilians, law enforcement and public officials and accused the gang of carrying out high-profile assassinations.
- Sanctions make it a federal crime to provide material support to the group and allow U.S. authorities to block property and bar transactions by U.S. persons with the gang.
- Ecuador’s foreign ministry welcomed the move as firm U.S. backing for President Daniel Noboa’s curfews and military deployments used in his campaign to stamp out gang violence.
- Officials framed the action as part of a wider Trump administration strategy to treat some Latin American criminal groups as terrorism threats to disrupt drug-trafficking revenue that links local gangs with transnational cartels.