Ecuador launches U.S.-backed anti-drug operations: "We're at war"
The operation marks the latest joint show of force against drug cartels in the South American country.
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The operation marks the latest joint show of force against drug cartels in the South American country.
U.S. and Ecuadoran forces conducted "lethal kinetic operations" inside Ecuador to combat drug trafficking in the South American country, SOUTHCOM said.
The U.S. military says it has killed six men in a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean as part of the Trump administration's campaign against alleged traffickers.
President Donald Trump says the U.S. and Latin American countries are banding together to combat violent cartels as his administration looks to demonstrate it remains committed to sharpening U.S. foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere.
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Guayaquil has become a hotspot for gang violence linked to drug trafficking and several soccer players in Ecuador have been targeted in recent months.
The deaths occurred Sunday at a prison in the coastal city of Machala, Ecuador, after "the detonation of an explosive device" outside, officials said.
Wilmer Chavarriais is believed to be the leader of Los Lobos, a drug trafficking syndicate that was recently designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.
Since 2021, Ecuador has experienced growing criminal violence by gangs operating in coordination with Colombian and Mexican cartels involved in drug trafficking.
Ecuador released a man who survived a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel after finding no evidence that he had committed a crime, officials said.
Four men and four women had "signs of torture" with their hands tied together and "their heads covered in black bags," according to a police report.
Clashes between drug gangs claimed at least 17 lives at an Ecuadoran prison, with rampaging inmates beheading and maiming rivals, officials said.
Ecuador has seen violence spiral in recent years as enemy gangs with ties to Mexican and Colombian cartels vie for control.
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The announcement targeting Los Lobos and Los Choneros came after a lethal U.S. military strike against a similarly designated gang in Venezuela.
The three Peruvians and two Colombians had been missing since mid-March and were found on May 7 by an Ecuadorian boat called Aldo.
The man is the son of the former Comptroller General of Ecuador.
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Carlos Arturo Landazuri Cortes, a "high-value target," was captured after months of intelligence work, Ecuador's police chief said.
The crime gangs also declared war on the government when Noboa announced a state of emergency following the prison escape on Sunday of one of Ecuador's most powerful narco bosses.
President Daniel Noboa decreed a national state of emergency for 60 days Monday, allowing the authorities to suspend rights and mobilize the military in places like prisons.
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The six inmates were being kept at Ecuador's biggest — and considered its most dangerous — prison, Litoral Penitentiary.
The incidents come just weeks after a presidential candidate with a tough stance on organized crime and corruption was assassinated after a rally.
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