The Biden administration plans to increase assistance to Ecuador amid growing concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the country, ranging from equipment to deploying personnel, according to a senior administration official.
The scale of US assistance to Ecuador underscores the urgency and concern within the Biden administration over the unfolding situation in the country, where gangs have terrorized the population, as well as the growing power of criminal enterprises.
Ecuador, once known as the region’s “Island of Peace,” is nestled between two of the world’s largest cocaine producers, Peru and Colombia, and its deep ports have made it a key transit point for cocaine making its way to consumers in the United States and Europe. Its dollarized economy has also made it a strategic location for traffickers seeking to launder money.
Experts warn that Ecuador’s terror groups are aligned with a wider criminal network, including the notorious Sinaloa Cartel out of Mexico, complicating President Daniel Noboa’s attempts to “neutralize” criminal groups operating within his borders – and as a result, gripping the country, and its armed forces, in fear.
Earlier this month, President Joe Biden asked special adviser for the Americas Christopher Dodd and Commander of the United States Southern Command Gen. Laura Richardson to go to Ecuador, assess the situation and report back, the senior administration official said.
On the heels of that trip, the White House said the US would facilitate the delivery of 20,000 bulletproof vests “and more than $1 million worth of critical security and emergency response equipment, including ambulances and defense logistic support vehicles.”
And more is on the way.
The senior administration official described a whole-of-government approach to address the situation, including…
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