Rubio visits Ecuador as Trump-friendly leader helps the US counterdrug push in the region

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visits Ecuador on Wednesday on the second leg of a three-nation tour of South America aimed at boosting security cooperation with conservative leaders who have cozied up to President Donald Trump, especially in the administration’s push to crack down on drug trafficking.

After spending Tuesday in Colombia meeting with new conservative firebrand President Abelardo de la Espriella, Rubio was traveling to Quito for talks with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, who has rapidly embraced the Trump administration’s get-tough stance on counternarcotics operations and illegal immigration.

Ecuador has struggled to contain drug violence since 2021 as rival cartels partner with local gangs and battle for control of routes and coastal ports used to smuggle cocaine. The country is wedged between Colombia and Peru, the world’s top cocaine-producing countries.

Under Noboa, Ecuador has become a strong U.S. partner in counterdrug efforts in the region.

Coinciding with Rubio’s trip, U.S. forces intercepted and sank a vessel on Tuesday that Washington said had links to the Ecuadorian criminal group Los Choneros. It was the sixth such operation in less than two weeks and the second in as many days.

Unlike in U.S. strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin American waters that began in September 2025, people aboard the floating refueling stations said to be supporting drug trafficking have been removed and transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.

It appears to be a shift after a series of strikes on boats over the year has killed at least 227 people, whom the Trump administration accused of being “narcoterrorists” without providing evidence. The U.S. military carried out at least two of those deadly strikes last month.

In public remarks Tuesday in Barranquilla on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, de la Espriella and Rubio both extolled a resurgence in U.S.-Colombia ties, starting in the security sector where cooperation had lagged under the previous Colombian leadership.

“We have a lot of common interests with them, both taking on regional transnational criminal terrorism and also economic engagements,” Rubio said of the three countries he is visiting. “It’s part of a trend that you’re seeing in the Western Hemisphere of alignment with U.S. and U.S. interests.”

From Quito, Rubio will travel to Lima, Peru, where he will see new Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori.