{"id":1667539,"date":"2026-03-05T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1667539"},"modified":"2026-03-05T09:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T14:15:00","slug":"us-ecuador-launch-joint-military-operations-against-terrorist-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/us-ecuador-launch-joint-military-operations-against-terrorist-organizations\/1667539\/","title":{"rendered":"US, Ecuador Launch Joint Military Operations Against Terrorist Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

US, Ecuador Launch Joint Military Operations Against Terrorist Organizations<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

US Southern Command on Tuesday stated that\u00a0the US military had conducted a joint operation with Ecuadorian forces\u00a0<\/strong>against “designated terrorist organizations” in Ecuador, as the Trump administration continues to fight narco-terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. Marine Corps. Lt. Gen. Francis Donovan looks on during a Senate Armed Services Committee Confirmation Hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 15, 2026. Tom Brenner\/Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

“We commend the men and women of the Ecuadorian armed forces for their unwavering commitment to this fight, demonstrating courage and resolve through continued actions against narco-terrorists in their country,”\u00a0Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan, commander of U.S. Southern Command, said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes after Donovan visited Ecuador on March 1 for a two-day visit, where he met President Daniel Noboa and senior Ecuadorian defense officials in Quito. They discussed security cooperation and US support of Ecuador’s efforts to combat narco-terrorism.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Pentagon spox told the\u00a0Epoch Times<\/em>\u00a0that the joint effort\u00a0does not entail US troops in combat<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Ecuador is one of the United States\u2019 strongest partners in disrupting and dismantling Designated Terrorist Organizations in the region<\/strong>,” Donnovan said on Tuesday. “The Ecuadorian people have witnessed firsthand the terror, violence, and corruption that these narco-terrorists inflict on communities across the region.”<\/p>\n

Noboa announced on Monday that Ecuador had entered a new phase in its fight against narcoterrorism and illegal mining.<\/p>\n

“In the month of March, we will conduct joint operations with our regional allies, including the United States<\/strong>,” he said on X. “The security of Ecuadorians is our priority, and we will fight to achieve peace in every corner of the country.”<\/p>\n

As the\u00a0Epoch Times notes<\/a> further,\u00a0<\/em>the operations come amid increased U.S. involvement in the region, including the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in January.<\/p>\n

Military personnel patrol a market as they carry out weapons and drug checks in Quito, Ecuador, on Feb. 10, 2026. Rodrigo Buendia\/AFP via Getty Images<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration in September 2025 classified<\/a> two Ecuadorian cartels, Los Choneros and Los Lobos, as foreign terrorist organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cLos Choneros and Los Lobos have attacked and threatened public officials and their families, security personnel, judges, prosecutors, and journalists in Ecuador,\u201d the U.S. State Department said in a September 2025 statement.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 2, the U.S. Coast Guard detained<\/a> three suspected narco-terrorists northwest of Ecuador during Operation Pacific Viper, an ongoing U.S. Coast Guard-led campaign launched in early August 2025, to undermine drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n

In March 2025, Noboa called for<\/a> U.S. special forces, with assistance from Brazil and Europe, to dismantle the international narco-terrorist organizations, which have swelled to thousands of armed members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to have more soldiers to fight this war,\u201d Noboa told the BBC at the time. \u201cSeventy percent of the world\u2019s cocaine exits via Ecuador. We need the help of international forces<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 03\/05\/2026 – 04:15<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/markets\/us-ecuador-launch-joint-military-operations-against-terrorist-organizations<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US, Ecuador Launch Joint Military Operations Against Terrorist Organizations US Southern Command on Tuesday stated that\u00a0the US military had conducted a joint operation with Ecuadorian…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1667540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1667539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1667539"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1667554,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1667539\/revisions\/1667554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1667540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1667539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1667539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1667539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}