Rubio designates Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones a foreign terrorist organization

During his 9 September Quito visit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Los Tiguerones — an Ecuadorian gang Rubio linked to narco-trafficking, attacks on civilians, police and journalists, and the 2024 armed takeover of a live Ecuadorian TV broadcast — as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity, extending to Ecuador the same legal designation tool Washington applied to Brazil's PCC and Comando Vermelho in May 2026. Rubio called the coalition's regional campaign 'a war' against groups like Los Tiguerones and Los Choneros. The designation carries asset-freeze and material-support-liability consequences and formalizes Los Tiguerones alongside Los Choneros and Los Lobos, both designated in September 2025, as terrorist entities.