Why Is the U.S. Launching Military Operations in Ecuador?

The United States and Ecuador announced this week that they’ve begun a joint military operation to combat narcoterrorism in the South American country.

The U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), which oversees the nation’s military activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, said in a press release on Tuesday that Ecuadorian and American military forces had started operations that day “against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador.”

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“The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism,” Southcom said in the press release. “Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere.”

Southcom also shared on X a short video in which a helicopter can be seen taking flight and picking up service members. The command didn’t explain what the video was depicting, though, or how it was tied to the operation in Ecuador.

Officials have so far shared little information about the military operation. But here’s what we do know.

What we know about the joint operations in Ecuador

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X this week that the country will be conducting “joint operations with our regional allies, including the United States” in March. He didn’t provide any details about the scale of the operation or the intended targets.

“The security of Ecuadorians is our priority, and we will fight to achieve peace in every corner of the country,” he said in his post. “To achieve that peace, we must act forcefully against criminals, wherever they may be. The pursuit of justice and national dignity will never be persecution, but rather a promise that we will keep to Ecuadorians.”

The Trump Administration hasn’t publicly shared how the U.S. military is involved in the operation in Ecuador. But one American official, speaking to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity, said that, in the months leading up to this week’s announcement, U.S. Special Forces have been assisting Ecuadorian soldiers in preparing for raids. American service members, the official told the Times, have been deployed to support the Ecuadorian military with the operation, which is reportedly targeting drug facilities led by violent gangs. U.S. troops, though, will not be directly involved in the operation, the official told the Times.

Trump’s expanding war on drug cartels

The joint military operation in Ecuador is the latest step that the Trump Administration has taken to crack down on drug trafficking in Latin America.

One of President Donald Trump’s top aides, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, told Latin American defense leaders on Thursday that military action was necessary to combat drug cartels.

“We have learned after decades of effort that there is not a criminal justice solution to the cartel problem,” Miller said. “The reason why this is a conference with military leadership and not a conference of lawyers is because these organizations can only be defeated with military power.”

In recent months, the Trump Administration has significantly escalated the U.S.’s own military presence and activity in the region, characterizing the moves as part of an effort to take down cartels and stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. Beginning in September, the Administration authorized strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean on dozens of boats it has accused of drug trafficking. The Administration reportedly told Congress in a confidential notice in the fall that Trump had determined the U.S. was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. The President also targeted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom the U.S. accused of leading a drug trafficking organization, in a months-long pressure campaign that culminated in the aggressive U.S. military operation in the South American nation at the start of the year that resulted in Maduro’s capture. U.S. officials transported Maduro to New York, where he pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in court.

Read More: How Do Americans Feel About the U.S. Capturing Venezuela’s Maduro? Here’s What Early Polls Show

The U.S. also provided the Mexican government with “intelligence support” to “assist” in the operation in which Mexican forces killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, the drug kingpin known as “El Mencho,” in February, according to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. American troops didn’t physically participate in that operation, however. 

In a new national security strategy released late last year, the Trump Administration positioned U.S. military actions targeting cartels as part of a broader shift in U.S. foreign policy toward the region. The document laid out plans for the U.S. to reassert its “preeminence” in the Western Hemisphere, including by enlisting partners in the region to “control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea” and shifting its global military presence toward the area “to address urgent threats.”

It also explicitly called for “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades.”

Many of the tactics the Trump Administration has deployed in its escalating war on drugs have generated significant blowback from lawmakers, voters, other foreign leaders, and legal experts, including the lethal strikes on alleged drug boats and the operation that led to Maduro’s capture. “The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the recent escalation in Venezuela, culminating with today’s United States military action in the country, which has potential worrying implications for the region,” Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. secretary-general, said in the wake of the U.S. strikes on Venezuela. “Independently of the situation in Venezuela, these developments constitute a dangerous precedent.”