US special forces support Ecuador anti-drug operations

US troops are carrying out joint military operations with Ecuadoran forces against drug-trafficking gangs near the Colombian border, Ecuadoran officials said.

Juan Jaramillo, governor of violence-hit Esmeraldas province, said on Aug. 19 that Ecuadoran forces were working with the US Army's 7th Special Forces Group in the fight against what he called narcoterrorism. He did not say how many US troops were deployed or when they arrived.

Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo announced on Aug. 20 the arrival of two warships and three US Black Hawk helicopters for operations to control parts of the coast, including the port of Manta, described as a trafficking hotspot.

The operations are being conducted under US President Donald Trump's Shield of the Americas anti-cartel alliance. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa is one of Trump's closest allies in Latin America.

Esmeraldas has seen a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion rackets carried out by drug-trafficking groups that move cocaine from neighboring Colombia and Peru through Ecuador's ports to world markets.