Overview
- The State Department designated the Chone Killers as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on Thursday, making it a federal crime to provide material support and allowing U.S. authorities to freeze any assets under U.S. jurisdiction.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the group has carried out attacks on civilians, law enforcement and officials and has helped Mexican cartels move and export drugs that fund criminal and violent activity.
- Ecuador’s government publicly welcomed the designation and has cooperated with U.S. forces through joint operations, curfews and military deployments that President Daniel Noboa says aim to dismantle narco-gang networks.
- The designation builds on the Trump administration’s broader campaign to label Latin American criminal groups as terrorists, a policy that U.S. officials say enables sanctions and military options while critics warn of human rights and legal risks from militarized tactics at sea and on land.
- The action targets a gang that grew from Los Choneros networks as Ecuador became a major cocaine transit hub, and it could intensify financial pressure, prosecutions and joint operations aimed at choking the groups’ revenue and cartel ties.