How the US Has Been Planning Military Operations in Ecuador for Months
US military forces may already be deployed to Ecuador to fight "terrorists", namely the Choneros and Lobos gangs. World of Crime explains how Quito and Washington have been preparing this for months.
On November 16, 2025, Ecuadorians went to the polls and said no.
Faced with a referendum that would have allowed foreign military bases to return to their country, more than 60 percent of voters rejected the proposal outright. Ecuador did not want foreign boots on its soil.
Less than four months later, US military forces are operating on Ecuadorian soil anyway.
On March 3, US Southern Command announced that American forces had launched operations against "designated terrorist organizations" alongside their Ecuadorian counterparts.
The Pentagon did not say what the operations would entail, and a short video posted to social media showed figures boarding a helicopter.
That same day, in a separate action, the US, Ecuador and Europol dismantled a major trafficking network linking Los Lobos, one of Ecuador's most violent cartels, to criminal organizations in Belgium and the Netherlands.
So why has Trump made this Ecuador his next target, after Venezuela and Mexico, in his war on drugs?
World of Crime explains.
