The US State Department has designated the Ecuadorian gang Chone Killers as a foreign terrorist organization, imposing sanctions on a crime group that Washington accuses of carrying out attacks on civilians and public officials.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the gang has also been classified as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. “Chone Killers has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials,” Rubio said in a statement.

The move against the Ecuadorian street gang is part of a broader campaign by the Trump regime against organized crime and drug trafficking in Latin America. The Trump regime has designated several other Latin American gangs and drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

Rubio also alleged that Ecuadorian gangs help Mexican cartels transport and export illegal drugs, which he said fund terrorism and other criminal activity.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the US decision, saying it reflected Washington’s strong support for President Daniel Noboa’s campaign against criminal organizations. “The Government of Ecuador thanks the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against criminal organizations,” the ministry said in a statement posted on X.

Noboa, a staunch ally of Trump, has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces in a US-backed crackdown aimed at stamping out gang activity.

Source: www.aljazeera.com