The unlikely South American ally helping US troops with 'jail or hell' drug cartel crackdown

NEW YORK — Ecuador has emerged as a key regional ally in President Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on drug cartels and narcoterrorism, with U.S. and Ecuadorian forces working side by side to intercept narcotics shipments and dismantle transnational criminal networks, the country’s foreign minister told Fox News Digital.

Foreign Minister Roberto Kury said the increasingly close cooperation with Washington has delivered "a lot of positive results" in recent months, pointing specifically to drug shipments uncovered through U.S. intelligence and joint work on the ground.

"There is an intelligence (sic) and cooperation from the United States, but there is also always the presence of Ecuadorian military or police. They work together," Kury told Fox News Digital in an interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly this week.

"Most of the drugs go to the United States. So that’s why the United States shares the problem," Kury noted of the stakes. 

U.S. and Ecuadorian forces on Wednesday "neutralized" what Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo described as one of Ecuador's "highest value military targets" — immediate proof of the growing partnership in the two nations' war on narcoterrorism.  

"Alias ‘Charlie’ belonged to the Los Choneros group and the Oliver Sinisterra Front from Colombia, had ties to Mexico's Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and his main mission was to sow terror in our country. We promised it: "Jail or hell" and this one didn’t make it to jail," Loffredo wrote on X. 

War Secretary Pete Hegseth reposted and amplified that message, writing on X: "The Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (A3C) in action."

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For Ecuador, the stakes are enormous. Roughly 70% of the world’s cocaine passes through Ecuadorian ports, an FBI official told lawmakers earlier this year, according to the Congressional Research Service, as criminal groups battle for control of trafficking routes carrying cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru to markets abroad.

For the U.S., Ecuador has become a proving ground for an early priority laid out in Trump’s foreign policy: using American military power against threats closer to home as Washington turns its attention back toward the Western Hemisphere.

The explosion in the drug trade has transformed the small South American country. Once considered one of Latin America’s safer countries, Ecuador is now at the frontline of the region’s cartel fight, fueling a surge in violence that prompted President Daniel Noboa to declare an "internal armed conflict" against criminal groups and deploy the military against them.

"We have found many drugs and shipments through this cooperation, so it’s very positive for Ecuador," Kury said of the partnership with the U.S.

Asked whether U.S. forces were participating directly in operations against cartels rather than limiting their role to intelligence and training, Kury was unequivocal about the joint nature of the effort, noting, "They work together with our local authorities."

But Kury stopped short of giving Washington carte blanche to use military force inside Ecuador when asked whether his government would permit the U.S. to strike a cartel target on Ecuadorian soil.

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"Ecuador has our sovereignty, and they respect that sovereignty," Kury said, adding that Quito welcomes U.S. involvement "as long as we work together, aligned with our local military and our local police."

Kury's comments come as Ecuador has emerged as a testing ground for the Trump administration's effort to take the fight against Latin American drug cartels beyond maritime interdictions and into partnered military operations on land.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has praised Ecuador as the U.S.’ most "aggressive" partner in its Western Hemisphere crackdown.

He told reporters during a recent trip to Quito that U.S. and Ecuadorian "elite forces" from both countries "are working jointly on a day-to-day basis in a way that has no precedent in order to try to dismantle these terrorist organizations."

The U.S. military is also shifting MQ-9 Reaper drones from Africa to Latin America ahead of anticipated operations against drug cartels, CNN reported Friday, the latest sign of Washington’s growing military footprint in the region. The drones are being reassigned from U.S. Africa Command to U.S. Southern Command as the administration expands a campaign that has already included strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels and closer operations with regional partners.

Ecuador battles a cocaine trade that President Noboa has estimated at roughly $30 billion a year. The country is looking to Washington for additional help taking on the criminal organizations behind the explosion.

Noboa said this week that his government asks the U.S. for help "every day" as Ecuador seeks to choke off a drug trade that has fueled years of violence and transformed the once relatively peaceful South American nation into a key front in the regional fight against organized crime.

Kury said Ecuador and other countries in the region need more than funding from Washington as criminal groups increasingly operate across national borders.

"Our countries in Latin America have the problem that we need support," Kury said. "We need not only monetary support but also intelligence, technical cooperation."

"That’s why we have the Shield of the Americas," he added, pointing to the U.S.-led regional initiative against cartels. "I think that the whole Latin American continent should work together."

The growing relationship extends beyond the cartel fight: Ecuador has also agreed to accept some third-country nationals deported from the U.S., part of the Trump administration’s effort to enlist regional partners in carrying out its immigration agenda.

Kury told Fox News Digital there are limits and "explicit rules" governing the arrangement, describing Ecuador as a temporary stop rather than the final destination for those sent there.

"The deported people come to Ecuador for a few hours, one day, two days, and they are then deported back to their country of origin," Kury said. "So it’s the way to cooperate, and that’s how we support each other, each country."

Kury emphasized that Quito wants the expanding relationship with Washington to translate into greater U.S. investment and trade in Ecuador.

"The United States is the main trade partner of Ecuador," he said, pointing to opportunities for American investment in mining, oil and gas, energy, tourism and agriculture. "We look not only [for] cooperation in the security side, but we also look to build more jobs in our country, to bring investment from the United States."

The U.S. is Ecuador’s largest trading partner, with U.S. exports to the country totaling $7.7 billion in 2024 and accounting for 28% of Ecuador’s imports, according to the Commerce Department. Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency but does not have a free trade agreement with Washington.