US designates Ecuadorian criminal group Chone Killers as terrorist organization

The United States announced on Wednesday that it has designated the Ecuadorian criminal group Chone Killers —a faction that split from the Choneros in 2020— as a foreign terrorist organization.

The Chone Killers “have carried out numerous attacks (...) including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” explained a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

The Ecuadorian groups Los Choneros and Los Lobos were designated as foreign terrorist organizations in September of last year.

“The Trump Administration, in partnership with Ecuador and President Daniel Noboa, will continue to protect our hemisphere by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting their sources of revenue,” the statement said.

Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, the United States took a significant step in the fight against organized crime by designating more than a dozen groups and cartels in Latin America —including Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador— as “narco-terrorist” organizations.