Ecuador. Trump’s “Narco-Terrorism” Operations in Ecuador: A New Phase of the Donroe Doctrine?
Ecuador. Trump’s “Narco-Terrorism” Operations in Ecuador: A New Phase of the Donroe Doctrine?
On 3 March 2026, US Southern Command, the military unit overseeing operations in Central and South America, announced via X that “decisive action” had been taken against “domestic terror organisations” in Ecuador to combat “illicit drug trafficking”. Ecuador’s defence ministry said details were classified.
What the statements confirmed was significant: for the first time since US special forces abducted former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on 3 January to try him for drug trafficking, American troops participated in a ground operation in South America under the Trump administration’s counter-narcotics doctrine. Two officials told The Intercept it would not be the last.
Just three days later, on 6 March, the Ecuadorian military dropped at least two bombs on what locals say is a dairy farm, but Ecuadorian and US officials say is a camp belonging to the group Comandos de la Frontera. (Talking Drugs, UK, 15.04.2026)