The government of Ecuador announced a mega-operation in different regions of the country against organized crime that will have support from the USA, in a joint effort against drug cartels operating in the South American country. The initiative is the first action of the international alliance against organized crime that brings together 17 countries and was launched by the president
Donald Trump this month.
More than 75,000 police and military personnel, supported by armored vehicles and helicopters, were mobilized for operations in four Ecuadorian provinces, where a fifteen-day nighttime curfew came into effect starting this Sunday, as announced by Interior Minister John Reimberg.
The representative of the Ecuadorian government declared that the authorities are “at war” against crime and have been instructed to make “necessary and progressive use of force against criminal groups and their finances”.
General Pablo Dávila, commander of the National Police, said that all specialized police and investigative units will be involved in these operations, which will also use drones and helicopters. He added that these operations are part of a new phase of the war against narco-terrorism, declared by President Daniel Noboa in 2024, and that this time they will feature “international cooperation”.
When Noboa announced these operations in early March, it indicated that one of the countries it would work with on this issue would be the US, whose military forces began joint actions last week with those of Ecuador against organizations classified as “terrorist”. These operations included the bombing and destruction of a training camp belonging to the Border Commands, one of the dissident groups of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The press was prevented by the government from covering police and military activities in the coming days. These operations come after Ecuador ended 2025 with 9,235 homicides, the highest number of murders in its history.
At the beginning of the month, Donald Trump’s government announced that it was ready to launch a military offensive against criminal groups in Latin America. The statement was made by US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who called on countries in the region to intensify the fight against narco-terrorists.
Just this month, the American government signaled that it would be evaluating the classification of the PCC factions and the Red Command as international terrorist organizations, something that has worried the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
