U.S. Designates Ecuadorian Gang Chone Killers as Foreign Terrorist Organization

The United States on Wednesday designated the Ecuadorian gang known as the Chone Killers as a foreign terrorist organization. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the gang has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials.

The group was also branded specially designated global terrorists.

As a result, the Chone Killers leaders and anyone associated with them can be subject to U.S. sanctions and criminal prosecution. The designation freezes any assets the group or its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions. Ecuador's foreign ministry welcomed the designation.

The Government of Ecuador thanks the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against criminal organizations, the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

The Chone Killers are an offshoot of Los Chineros, a gang the United States previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2020. Ecuador has gone from one of South America's safest countries to a major cocaine trafficking hub, plagued by gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels.

The Trump administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists, Rubio added. Noboa has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces in a U.S.-backed crackdown aimed at stamping out gang activity.

American commandos recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal hub operated by an alleged narco-terrorist organization along the country's coast. In early March, the United States and Ecuador launched joint military operations against designated terrorist organizations in the country.

The Trump administration has designated a number of other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including the Mexican Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua.