On Sunday evening, I was tracking a government plane from Miami to South America. I thought it was going to Venezuela at first — this is exciting.. who could it be? — but it veered off to the west and ended up in Ecuador instead. I knew right away that it was probably someone from the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), and, as it turns out, it was the commander himself, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, flying in to meet with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and some of that country’s defense officials.
It came about two weeks after Gen. Donovan went to Caracas, making it his second trip to the region since assuming his post on February 5. Anyway, I actually commented that we don’t talk enough about what’s going on in Ecuador, and I’d planned to write about the visit on Monday, but our dear secretary of state diverted my attention. Thankfully, I waited because things escalated.
On Monday, Noboa announced via X that “We are launching a new phase against narco-terrorism and illegal mining.”
“In the month of March, we will conduct joint operations with our regional allies, including the United States. The security of Ecuadorians is our priority, and we will fight to achieve peace in every corner of the country,” he said. “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.”
On Tuesday night, SOUTHCOM announced that “Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador. The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism. Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere.”
On March 3, Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces launched operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations in Ecuador. The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism.
Together,… pic.twitter.com/MrkKZcrDbs
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) March 4, 2026
I had to laugh when the news broke because I saw people on social media and some MSM headlines breathlessly reporting as if Donald Trump was starting some sort of war in Ecuador, and how can he do this if we’re spread so thin throughout Iran, etc. But the fact is that this isn’t exactly new news — it’s more of an escalation or new phase of something that was already happening. When I say in other columns that most people in media don’t understand or pay attention to the region, this is what I’m talking about.
For the most part, Ecuador was one of the most peaceful and stable countries in the Western Hemisphere. Even as recently as 2020, it had one of the lowest homicide rates in the region. Since then, things have changed, you could say. By 2023, in just three short years, it had one of the highest homicide rates in the region, even higher than Mexico.
What happened? I could write a novel here, but it all boils down to political mismanagement (impunity, security spending cuts), corruption (naturally), gang violence, and drug trafficking. FARC factions came over the border from Colombia and created chaotic cocaine routes. The murder of a gang leader led to that gang, Los Choneros, splitting into rival factions, which led to prison and street wars, largely funded by major Mexican cartels. It got to the point that 70% of all global cocaine came through Ecuador. There was also mass migration from Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela — whether or not that led to an increase in violence has been up for debate, but it definitely put pressure on the country’s infrastructure.
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In 2024, when Noboa first took office, he did what his predecessors wouldn’t: declared an “internal armed conflict,” designated the gangs as terrorist organizations, set up a nightly curfew, and brought in the military.
Ecuador and Noboa have been fighting this fight for two years. U.S. involvement was largely limited under Joe Biden to intel sharing, sanctions, and diplomatic and financial backing. As we know, that’s not how you deal with cartels and terrorists.
Our support has ramped up under Trump and even more so since Marco Rubio visited Ecuador last September. We designated two of the country’s main criminal elements, the aforementioned Los Choneros and Los Lobos, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and we offered actual military support.
As I mentioned in December, we deployed members of our own Air Force to Ecuador’s Manta air force base as a “short-term joint effort is carried out as part of our long-term bilateral security strategy.”
At the time, the U.S. embassy in Quito said, “The operation will enhance the capacity of the Ecuadorian military forces to combat narco-terrorists, including strengthening intelligence gathering and anti-drug trafficking capabilities, and is designed to protect the United States and Ecuador from the threats we share.”
So, while we haven’t learned many details about it, this latest phase of operations is, in my eyes, just a continuation of our efforts. It’s the land strikes Trump always spoke about when we were blowing up the narco-boats in the Caribbean Sea and yet more proof that the Trump administration wants to make our country and our hemisphere safe again. Hopefully, there is much more to come.
This type of military activity is a direct hit to the flow of cocaine and fentanyl — and the crime that comes with it — into the United States, and it shows the other countries in the region that we mean business. Work with us, and we’ll help you solve your problems that eventually become our problems, too. Align yourself with China, and you’ll end up with a bunch of shoddy infrastructure, spying, and debt you can’t repay. It also curbs mass migration. In recent years, the people of Ecuador have fled their country in large numbers in search of a safer place to live.
There’s no need for the MSM to act surprised about any of it or turn it into something it’s not — we’re blowing stuff up, but it’s not Iran. It’s a partnership between two regional allies that want to keep their countries safe. It’s responsible U.S. foreign policy and national security — something we’re not used to after four years of a feckless Biden administration.
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