US designates Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones a terrorist organisation

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meeting Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa in Quito, announced that Washington has formally designated the Ecuadorian criminal gang Los Tiguerones as a terrorist organisation. The move is part of the Trump administration's broader campaign against narcotics traffickers it blames for destabilising Latin America.

Rubio said the gang is linked not only to drug trafficking but also to attacks on civilians, law enforcement officers and journalists. He stressed that these were not ordinary criminals but terrorists whose weapons and equipment in some cases resemble those of national armies.

Television station attack

Los Tiguerones became widely known in 2024 when heavily armed members stormed the studio of TC Televisión during a live broadcast. Footage from the El Noticiero news programme showed men carrying pistols, shotguns, machine guns, grenades and sticks of dynamite. The incident became a symbol of drug-related violence in the country and prompted President Noboa to declare a state of "internal armed conflict."

Regional strategy

Rubio's visit to Ecuador is part of a three-nation Latin America tour during which he is meeting several newly elected rightwing leaders. Under the "Shield of the Americas" initiative, the US is seeking to tighten security cooperation with regional partners. Rubio called Ecuador the administration's most aggressive partner in the fight against drug traffickers, including in connection with controversial strikes on boats that have killed at least 227 people the US has labelled drug traffickers without providing evidence.

Rubio said he would seek an additional $45m from Congress to help dismantle these groups, and that elite forces from both countries were working together daily on an unprecedented scale. Before Ecuador, he visited Colombia, meeting new President Abelardo De La Espriella, and he is next expected to travel to Peru to meet Keiko Fujimori.