US Special Forces Deploy to Ecuador for Joint Anti-Cartel Operations

The Pentagon announced on March 3–4, 2026 that US Special Forces had been embedded with Ecuadorian commandos for joint operations against narco-terrorist organizations in Ecuador. The initial operation targeted 'Los Lobos' and related trafficking networks operating in the Guayas, El Oro, and Loja provinces. US troops provided advisory support, intelligence, and helicopter assets without directly conducting raids—described as the first acknowledged US-assisted land operations against South American cartel infrastructure on Ecuadorian soil. Al Jazeera and The Intercept noted criticism from Latin American scholars and human rights organizations who characterized the deployment as a continuation of historical US military interventionism repackaged in counter-narcotics language, drawing parallels with Cold War-era US advisory missions to El Salvador, Honduras, and Colombia. US SOUTHCOM formally announced the partnership through a press release.