US military launches operation in Ecuador to combat drug trafficking

US and Ecuadorian forces have launched joint operations to combat drug trafficking, the US Southern Command said on Tuesday, but neither side gave more details.Southern Command, which encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean, said in a statement on X that the “decisive action” was aimed at combating illicit drug trafficking.The Ecuador defense ministry said details of the offensive operations were classified.The announcement came a day after the South American country said Washington had joined a “new phase” in its so-called “war on drugs”.Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, a close ally of Donald Trump, said Washington was among “regional allies” taking part in the operation against drug cartels, which use ports to smuggle cocaine to international markets.On Monday, Noboa held talks in Quito with the US Southern Command chief, Francis Donovan, and Mark Schafer, the head of US Special Operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean.During the meeting, they discussed plans for information sharing and operational coordination at airports and seaports, Noboa’s office said in a statement.About 70% of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through neighbouring Ecuador.The drug trade has unleashed a bloody turf war that has turned one of Latin America’s safest countries into one of its deadliest in the space of a few years.The US and Ecuador have boosted their security cooperation since the right-wing Noboa came to power in 2023.Noboa last year pushed for the reopening of a shuttered US military base but was shot down by Ecuadorians who voted in a November referendum against overturning a ban on foreign bases.In December, the US announced a temporary deployment of air force personnel to the former US base in the port city of Manta.