The United States and Ecuador carried out joint strikes inside Ecuador as part of an ongoing operation targeting drug trafficking, US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a statement on Friday.
SOUTHCOM said its commander, General Francis Donovan, at the order of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, directed the joint force to support Ecuadorian forces conducting “lethal kinetic operations against Designated Terrorist Organizations” within Ecuador. “We are advancing alongside our partners in the fight against narcoterrorism,” the statement posted on X said.
The strikes were conducted in the northeastern province of Sucumbíos, near Ecuador’s border with Colombia. Helicopters, aircraft, river boats and drones were used to locate and bomb a drug traffickers’ training camp in the area, Ecuador’s Defense Ministry said.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said on Instagram the camp belonged to the Comandos de la Frontera (CDF), a dissident faction of the FARC guerrilla group. “We destroyed the hideout of Mono Tole, the leader of the CDF, and a training area for drug traffickers,” he posted, alongside video of a compound exploding and leaving a plume of smoke. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed or captured in the strikes.
Noboa, a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has been working closely with US authorities to stem the flow of drugs from Ecuador to the United States. A military clampdown on organized crime is a central focus of his government. His administration has also levied tariffs on neighboring Colombia, accusing it of not doing enough to combat drug trafficking.
Earlier this week, Noboa held talks in Quito with Donovan and Mark Schafer, head of US Special Operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The leaders discussed plans for sharing information and coordinating operations at airports and seaports, the Ecuadorian president’s office said.
Noboa is expected to attend the Trump administration’s “Shield of the Americas” meeting in Miami, a summit bringing together several right-wing leaders from the region to focus on regional security, drug trafficking and migration.
Edited by: Sean Sinico