US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has promised security aid to Ecuador and announced terrorist designations as he vowed to ramp up a regional fight against criminals following a US strike on a boat allegedly linked to Venezuela, whose leader he described as a "fugitive of American justice".
Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa, an emerging ally of US President Donald Trump, has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America's safest to one of its most dangerous.
Rubio, meeting with Noboa in the centuries-old palace in Quito's old city on Thursday, said the United States would provide nearly $20 million in security aid including six million in drones.
He also said that the United States was designating two gangs, Los Lobos and Los Choneros, as foreign terrorist organisations — putting them directly into US crosshairs.
Rubio told reporters that he was helping Ecuador to "wage war against these vicious animals, these terrorists."
Speaking of Trump's push against criminal groups, Rubio said, "This administration is confronting it like it's never been confronted before."
At a joint press conference, Ecuador's Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld said that Ecuador wants to see the Americas region free of "threats from transnational organised crime groups and terrorist groups that want to subjugate our citizens."
Rubio targets Maduro
The visit comes two days after US forces said they blew up an alleged drug-running boat from a gang Washington claims is tied to Venezuela's leader Nicolas Maduro, in an operation Trump claimed killed 11 people.
Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings, saying "they murdered 11 people without due process."
Rubio on Thursday denounced Maduro, and again threatened more strikes.
Maduro is a "fugitive of American justice," Rubio said.
"We are not just going to hunt for drug dealers with the little fast boats."
The US has long accused Maduro of leading the Cartel de los Soles drug network.
On July 25, the US Treasury designated the group as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" organisation.
On August 8, Washington doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest or conviction from $25 million to $50 million.
Maduro responded on August 18: "We defend our seas, our skies, and our land. No empire can touch Venezuela’s sacred territory or South America's sacred lands."
Following Trump's orders, a US naval group including seven warships and a submarine was dispatched to Caribbean waters near Venezuela on August 28.
Invitation to US forces
Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador is the departure point for 70 percent of the world's supply of the drug, nearly half of which goes to the United States, according to official data.
For years, the United States operated a military base at the Pacific port of Manta, and the Drug Enforcement Administration had a sizeable footprint in the country.
The base was closed in 2009, after leftist then-president Rafael Correa refused to renew the lease.
Noboa has taken steps to amend Ecuador's constitution to allow a return of US forces.
"If they invite us to return, we will consider it very seriously," Rubio said.
Ecuador also has to balance its warmth with Trump with its relationship with China, to which it owes billions of dollars after an infrastructure agreement.
