Overview
- U.S. Southern Command said on March 3 that Ecuadorian and American forces began operations in Ecuador against groups it labels as Designated Terrorist Organizations, releasing a brief helicopter video with no further specifics.
- U.S. officials said Americans are primarily advising and providing intelligence and logistics while Ecuadorian units conduct raids, with any direct U.S. involvement in the first action unclear.
- Both governments have withheld locations, targets and results, as Ecuador’s defense officials describe a classified “new phase” against narco‑terrorism and illegal mining.
- The effort represents an expansion of Washington’s campaign that has centered on dozens of strikes against suspected drug‑smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean, which public tallies say have killed about 150 people in at least 44 actions since September.
- The State Department previously designated Ecuador’s Los Lobos and Los Choneros as foreign terrorist organizations, and SOUTHCOM’s Gen. Francis L. Donovan met President Daniel Noboa in Quito before praising Ecuador’s forces, as U.S. and European partners also touted a separate case dismantling a network linked to Los Lobos.