U.S. Carries out Military Operations in Northern Ecuador, Near the Border with Colombia
The United States is conducting military operations against drug trafficking in northern Ecuador, near the border with Colombia, reported the governor of the province of Esmeraldas, Juan Jaramillo, although he did not want to answer how many U.S. military personnel are deployed in the area or since when.
The operations are part of the Shield of the Americas, an anti-drug coalition made up of 19 countries. Colombia recently joined that coalition, and the U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said that the newly inaugurated president of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, had authorized the joint operations in the South American country.
Operations in an area affected by drug trafficking and illegal mining
“We are with the seventh group of the United States Army. We are working together in the fight against narcoterrorism,” said the governor of the province of Esmeraldas, Juan Jaramillo, who refused to answer at a press conference how many U.S. military personnel are deployed in the area and since when.
“It has to do with organized crime, drug trafficking, narcoterrorists, let’s put it that way […], the gangs dedicated to extortion… We believe that we have to support the technology that the United States has, and in that sense we are going to work,” the governor added.
Jaramillo also said that the joint operations between the Ecuadorian Navy and U.S. units are concentrated mainly in the cantons of San Lorenzo and Eloy Alfaro, in an area affected by drug trafficking and illegal mining, without giving details of the operations or their specific objectives. “They have been here for some time. They have carried out intelligence work with the Navy. They will remain for as long as necessary,” he limited himself to saying.
“We are concerned about the involvement of children and young people in criminal gangs dedicated to drug trafficking and illegal mining,” the governor continued, revealing that another of the main concerns for authorities is the recruitment of minors into criminal organizations operating in his province. He gave as an example a school attended by 1,200 young people, but 200 of them dropped out.
Jaramillo’s statement came after Fracis L. Donovan, commander of the Southern Command, met with Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Gian Carlo Loffredo, who announced this Thursday the arrival of two warships and three U.S. Black Hawk helicopters, which will be used to reinforce control of maritime points and coastal cities, including Manta.
“We are going to triple our interdiction capabilities in the maritime area,” Loffredo said in a video posted on social media. All of this comes on top of the fact that the Ecuadorian government published a decree this week allowing U.S. military personnel to remain in the South American country for up to 180 days without a visa and also granting them immigration immunity.
The coastal province of Esmeraldas, which borders Colombia’s department of Narino to the north, is plagued by murders, kidnappings and extortion at the hands of drug trafficking groups, which use Pacific ports to export drugs to the United States and Europe. Several criminal structures operate in that region, among which Los Tiguerones, Los Lobos and Los Choneros stand out.
Operations in Ecuador after exercise in Panama
The U.S. operations in northern Ecuador became known a few days after the PANAMAX 2026 exercises ended, multinational military maneuvers focused on the defense of the Panama Canal, this time in northwestern Colombia.
Those exercises lasted eleven days with the participation of about 1,700 personnel from 19 countries in the Americas, who carried out maritime maneuvers, small-boat operations, search and seizure training, cyber defense, air assault missions and special operations exercises focused on the protection of critical infrastructure.
The offensive operations in Ecuador materialize the announcement by the Southern Command in one of its most recent videos, in which it warns: “Whether by air, land or sea, U.S. forces are taking the fight to the enemy. Together with our partners in the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas, we are applying total systemic friction to the narcoterrorist networks that spread terror and instability throughout the region.”