Ecuador launches military offensive against narcos

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Ecuador has deployed more than 75,000 troops to fight drug gangs in the country. The operation is focused on four provinces, whose residents have been told to stay at home. It has the backing of the US, which launched an anti-cartel alliance earlier this month at a summit in Mar-a-Lago. For decades, Ecuador was largely free of the drug violence that gripped other parts of Latin America. But in recent years it has become a transit hub for roughly 70% of the cocaine produced in Peru and Colombia. It is now the region’s most violent country, with the murder rate jumping by 30% between 2024 and 2025. Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, is a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and hopes that US assistance could start to turn the tide.