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President Noboa said Ecuador would welcome US military troops to fight organized crime, provided they operate under Ecuadorian Armed Forces command. Joint operations are already underway, including Pacific naval exercises with the USS Nimitz and a border strike against Comandos de la Frontera.
U.S.-Ecuador joint military operations under Operation Southern Spear have drawn international scrutiny after an NYT investigation revealed a promoted 'drug camp' strike actually hit a dairy farm. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances has raised concerns about military abuses under repeated states of emergency.
A New York Times investigation found that a joint U.S.-Ecuador military strike in early March, promoted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as destroying a drug trafficking camp, actually destroyed a cattle and dairy farm in San Martin. Workers reported beatings, choking, and electrical shocks by soldiers.
U.S. Special Operations forces launched joint military operations in Ecuador on March 3, 2026, alongside 75,000 Ecuadorian troops. A curfew from 11 PM to 5 AM is in effect through March 31 in Guayas, El Oro, Los Rios, and Santo Domingo provinces — not in the highlands or Cuenca. Over 253 people have been arrested for curfew violations.
Angel Esteban Aguilar, known as "Lobo Menor," was captured at Mexico City's airport with a fake Colombian passport. He's the alleged mastermind behind the 2023 assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio — and the leader of one of Ecuador's most dangerous criminal organizations.
American troops launched joint operations with Ecuadorian forces on March 3, targeting cartel infrastructure across multiple provinces. Today, France24 reports that US-backed airstrikes are leaving border communities in fear. Here's the full picture.
Ecuador deployed 75,000 soldiers and police to Guayas, El Oro, Los Ríos, and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas with a nightly curfew from 11 PM to 5 AM through March 31. Here's what expats traveling to the coast or flying through Guayaquil need to know.
The United States and Ecuador have concluded negotiations on a historic Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) that eliminates the 15% surcharge on roughly half of Ecuador's non-petroleum exports — worth $3.2 billion annually. The deal shields Ecuadorian flowers, bananas, cacao, and seafood from the new 10% global US tariff.
