QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa fully aligned his administration with Washington’s aggressive strategy to dismantle transnational criminal organizations. This week, Noboa welcomed high-level U.S. support and reinforced warnings from the United States government that foreign drug-trafficking cartels will “eat these countries alive” if left unchecked.
During high-stakes bilateral meetings in the Ecuadorian capital earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Ecuador as the Trump administration’s most aggressive partner in the hemisphere-wide push against drug trafficking networks. The meeting signaled a dramatic shift in South American security posture, as conservative leaders across the region unite with Washington to confront transnational criminal cartels operating in the Western Hemisphere.
“If you don’t confront these groups, they will eat these countries alive,” Secretary Rubio warned following discussions with President Noboa. “It’s like a cancer that continues to grow until you don’t literally have a state anymore.”
Rather than pushing back against hardline American rhetoric regarding the vast territories controlled by Mexican cartels—specifically the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). In 2025, the U.S. State Department designated these and other cartels and gangs as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO).
President Noboa doubled down on joint security operations. Ecuador serves as a primary transit corridor for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, with local gangs acting as heavily armed proxies for Mexican cartel bosses.
To solidify the growing alliance, Washington officially added the notorious Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones to the FTO list, according to an article by Breitbart News’ Christian Caruzo. This follows similar recent designations for the Chone Killers and Los Lobos. The FTO classification allows the U.S. government to impose expanded financial sanctions, expand intelligence capabilities, and pursue potential military targeting against the groups.
“These are not ordinary street gangs,” Noboa explained, “they operate with international logistics, massive financial backing, and terrorist capabilities that threaten the sovereignty of our nation.”
Just over a week ago, Ecuador joined the United States Navy in seizing and then sinking a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean that was operating as a floating refueling station for drug traffickers, Breitbart Texas reported.
“Ecuador is committed to taking back control of our territorial waters and coastal ports. Working shoulder-to-shoulder with our allies ensures that these maritime routes are permanently disrupted,” President Noboa affirmed.
The operation marked another strike in the Trump administration’s aggressive military enforcement campaign against Western Hemisphere drug cartels. The policy of kinetic strikes against terrorist drug-trafficking boats began just over a year ago when President Donald Trump signed an executive order authorizing the use of military force against certain drug cartels, Breitbart Texas reported.
President Noboa honored Secretary Rubio during this week’s visit by presenting Ecuador’s National Order of Merit (Grand Cross). The president praised Washington’s willingness to directly target the narco-terrorist networks destabilizing the region.
“You are helping bring peace to the U.S. and the entire region by strengthening our security and our ties against these common enemies,” Noboa stated.
Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Roberto Kury underscored the unified front, officially declaring Ecuador a “loyal, active, and decisive ally” in clearing cartel-controlled transit routes.
As Washington signals an uncompromising stance toward cartels operating across Latin America, Quito’s enthusiastic posture demonstrates that key regional partners are ready to move past diplomatic hesitation and confront transnational narco-terrorists with direct, decisive force.
In a diplomatic move, Rubio praised Mexico’s efforts in going after these cartels, but stressed that not enough had been done, Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz and Brandon Darby reported this week.
“The Mexicans have done more than ever before to go after these groups, but it is still not nearly enough,” Rubio stated. “They know that. We have expressed that to them.”
“The people of Mexico will tell you that,” the secretary added. “The number one issue in Mexico, poll after poll shows, is security. Political candidates are routinely assassinated in Mexico, judges routinely assassinated, journalists who report on the cartels routinely assassinated by these groups.”
As the Trump-Rubio doctrine reshapes Western Hemisphere security posture, President Noboa’s full-throated endorsement of American kinetic power marks a historic turning point in the war on narco-terrorism.
By formally recognizing local gangs as global terrorist proxies, accepting federal intelligence integration, and coordinating direct military operations to destroy trafficking assets at sea, Ecuador is laying down a blueprint for the rest of Latin America. Noboa’s willingness to reject open-border diplomacy in favor of decisive counter-cartel force signals to transnational syndicates that their regional safe havens are rapidly shrinking—and that the United States and its sovereign allies are fully prepared to hunt down narco-terrorist networks wherever they attempt to operate.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.