U.S. troops help Ecuador arrest dozens linked to ruthless cartel

U.S. troops helped Ecuador dismantle a local branch of Mexico's notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), arresting more than 30 members, Ecuador's interior minister said Thursday.

Quito, a Washington ally, is enthusiastically cooperating with Donald Trump's crackdown on organized crime across Latin America.

Thursday's early-morning operation "was conducted jointly with U.S. troops and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," Ecuadoran Interior Minister John Reimberg wrote on X.

Over 30 Ecuadorans were arrested for allegedly belonging to the group with a "direct connection to the CJNG," he said.

The minister said the group was involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia, the world's largest producer, to international markets via ports in southwestern Ecuador.

Some 320 Ecuadoran police officers and 50 uniformed personnel from the U.S. Southern Command took part in the operation spanning several cities, he said.

Reimberg also released photos and videos of the operation, showing officers conduct raids and arrests suspects.

The military offensive against criminal organizations in Ecuador has caused alarm among human rights organizations, which denounce cases of excessive use of force, torture and enforced disappearance.

Right-wing President Daniel Noboa brushed off those concerns during an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

"We receive plenty of criticism regarding the fight against organized crime and very little concern about the number of victims we are seeing from organized crime," Noboa said.

Earlier this year, American commandos 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.

Ecuador has gone from being one of South America's safest countries to a cocaine trafficking hub in a few short years, plagued by gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels.

Criminal gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the recapture in June 2025 of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads the "Los Choneros" gang, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024. In July 2025, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macías to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.