By Alexandra Valencia, Daphne Psaledakis and Julia Symmes Cobb
QUITO, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to Ecuador on Wednesday that he would seek $45 million in additional security funding for the Latin American country, as well as additional equipment, to help tackle drug trafficking.
Rubio met with Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa during a swing through three Latin American countries with leaders closely aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration's
effort to reassert U.S. dominance in the region.
Speaking after their meeting, Rubio said Washington was increasingly working with Noboa's government to crack down on drug trafficking organizations.
"These are not ordinary groups. Clearly, they engage in common crime, but they have terrorist capabilities across the region, and that must be confronted. They must be dismantled, they must be defeated, and we are committed to doing that," Rubio said.
Rubio on Wednesday designated the Ecuador-based gang Los Tiguerones as a foreign terrorist organization, after similar designations were made against two other Ecuador-based gangs last year. The State Department said the group was linked to narcotrafficking and other illicit activity, including the live takeover of an Ecuadorean TV station in 2024.
Rubio said the U.S. would also be imposing sanctions on seven former Ecuadorean officials involved in bribery.
The Trump administration would ask Congress for $45 million to fund new commitments for Ecuador, as well as a $10 million initiative targeting illegal gold mining, gang recruitment and illicit finance, Rubio said.
He said the U.S. would deliver a 110-foot coast guard cutter and five interceptor vessels for the country's navy, in addition to seven already delivered to Ecuador this year for the fight against maritime drug trafficking.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota, Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Alistair Bell)
