US announces $45m in security funding, additional naval vessels for Ecuador 

United States President Donald Trump’s administration will seek $45m in security funding for Ecuador, as part of its cooperation with the country’s right-wing government.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the pledge during a visit to the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, on Wednesday.

He also praised the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa as being “the most involved and aggressive partner” the US has had in its work dismantling criminal networks and “bringing people to justice that have never been brought to justice before”.

In addition to the $45m security package, Rubio said the Trump administration would launch a $10m initiative to tackle illegal gold mining, gang recruitment and drug trafficking.

It would also give a coast guard cutter ship and five interceptor vessels to help Ecuador’s navy, adding to previous seven previous vessels the US delivered earlier this year.

Rubio’s stop in Ecuador is part of a larger three-day, three-country visit to South America, which already took him to Colombia. On Thursday, he will continue to Peru.

Security has been a dominant theme so far on his trip. The US has sought to increase its influence across the Western Hemisphere, taking increasingly aggressive military actions abroad in the name of combatting crime.

The Trump administration has also labelled multiple Latin American criminal organisations “foreign terrorist organisations”.

“These are not ordinary groups. Clearly, they engage in common crime, but they have terrorist capabilities across the region, and that must be confronted,” Rubio said in Quito. “They must be dismantled, they must be defeated, and we are committed to doing that.”

As part of Wednesday’s stop, Rubio designated Los Tiguerones, an Ecuador-based drug trafficking ring, as a “foreign terrorist organisation”, accusing the group of trafficking illegal narcotics and being involved in the violent takeover of a television station in 2024.

Since 2023, Ecuador has taken an increasingly hardline shift under Noboa.

The youngest president in his country’s modern history, Noboa was first elected to complete after the government was abruptly dissolved in 2023. To secure his re-election in 2025, Noboa leaned into security concerns, pledging a stern crackdown.

Ecuador has seen a spike in crime since the COVID-19 pandemic, with drug-trafficking organisations making increasing use of its Pacific ports.

To address that issue, Noboa has deployed thousands of military service members and police to crime-ravaged areas. He has also called the conflict with drug-traffickers a “state of war”.

That approach aligns closely with the Trump administration’s security platform, and the two countries have forged close relations since Trump’s return to office in 2025.

In March, for instance, the US confirmed it was engaged in joint military operations with Ecuador.

Right-wing governments in the region, including Noboa’s, have also joined the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), a regional security framework created and led by the Trump administration.

More recently, Ecuador has been collaborating with the US on efforts to intercept and attack boats allegedly tied to narcotics trafficking.

On Tuesday, for instance, the US intercepted a vessel it said had links to the criminal group Los Choneros, transferring the suspects to Ecuadorian authorities. It was the sixth such operation in less than two weeks.

Both the US and Ecuador have been accused of human rights violations as part of their anti-narcotics operations.

The US, for instance, has carried out roughly 68 lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September 2, 2025, in a campaign aimed at eliminating “narco-terrorists”.

More than 220 people have been killed in those operations. Some families, including in Ecuador, have accused the Trump administration of attacking and killing fishermen who had no connections to drug trafficking.

An Ecuadorian survivor of a US boat strike was transferred back to his country in October 2025, where he was later released from custody due to a lack of evidence. Legal experts have likened the attacks to extrajudicial killings, in violation of international law.

Rubio, however, used his visit to defend the boat-bombing campaign. “Our goal is not to go after fishermen. Our goal is to go after drug traffickers,” he said.