Ecuador asks for military support against 'narcoterrorism'

Ecuador is currently experiencing an unparalleled wave of violence. Some 1,300 murders were recorded in the first 50 days of 2025 —  that is one murder per hour, and reflects an increase of 40% since 2023.

According to the most recent report by the US think tank InSight Crime, Ecuador is "one of the region’s most significant drug trafficking hubs." The country, with a population of 18 million, is used to smuggle Colombian and Peruvian cocaine to Europe, Mexico and Central America. The speed with which drug cartels have gained power in Ecuador is unprecedented.

In an interview with the British broadcaster BBC, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa asked the international community for military support. He said he could imagine working with the US, European and Brazilian armies to combat crime in Ecuador.

He also said that he wanted his US counterpart, Donald Trump, to classify Ecuadorian gangs as terrorist groups, as Trump has already done for some Mexican and Venezuelan cartels.

Just a few days earlier, Noboa announced a "strategic alliance to strengthen our capabilities in the fight against narcoterrorism" with Erik Prince, the founder of the private military firm previously known as Blackwater.

Can the army end the violence?

However, observers doubt that military methods can break the cartels and put an end to the spiral of violence. They point to Colombia, which has decades of experience combating drug-related crime, as an example where deploying the army has not helped.

"Experience has shown that the involvement of the military in internal security leads to a restriction of civil rights," said Catalina Nino, coordinator of the regional project on security in Latin America at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Colombia.

"The armed forces were not conceived to be so close to the civilian population — and when this has happened, there has been an increase in human rights violations," she told DW, noting that there might sometimes be temporary improvements in the security situation, but that these cannot be sustained in the long term.

Daniel Ponton, dean of the school of security and defense at Ecuador's Institute of Advanced National Studies, was less skeptical but also pointed out that the deployment of the military in this way carried risks and did not necessarily lead to a reduction in crime.

"I have never been completely against the military being used for tasks related to internal security when the nature of the threat requires military intervention and the police forces — as is the case in Ecuador — are overwhelmed," he told DW. "In Ecuador, the armed forces are needed because there are a number of groups that have heavy weapons and control areas where military operations are necessary."

But Ponton added that any such operation had to be accompanied by long-term political measures, as the military could not solve the underlying problems.  He said that in this particular case, it was important to consider the political context, as Noboa's remarks had not been made in a vacuum. The Ecuadorian president wanted to differentiate himself from his political opposition, which in the past had opposed international cooperation in this area, Ponton explained.

Election runoff due on April 13

Noboa's call for international military support comes as the political climate in Ecuador is particularly tense. A runoff between Noboa and his left-wing rival Luisa Gonzalez is slated for April 13. In the first round of voting on February 9, Noboa won 44.2% while Gonzalez received 44%. 

Noboa's popularity has fallen in recent months, leading to speculation that his call for military intervention could also be driven by the upcoming election. Gonzalez herself is focusing on social welfare and has criticized her rival's military plans as ineffective.

In response to the question of whether the US, the EU and Brazil could help in other ways, Nino pointed out that the US had already failed. "Because it has stopped all its humanitarian aid programs, which have a much greater potential for achieving sustainable medium-term improvements," Nino said. "The decision to end the work of US development agency USAID could even exacerbate violence in some areas and strengthen criminal groups."

Both she and Ponton say that instead of militarizing the fight against drug trafficking, there should be a more holistic approach that takes into account social and economic factors. It also makes sense to look at other Latin American countries.

"There are numerous examples and not all of them are positive," said Ponton. "Mexico would be the prime example, because despite militarization, it has not been possible to defuse the difficult security situation. And in Colombia, although guerrilla warfare was contained, the military operation was extremely ineffective when it came to fighting drug trafficking."

This article was originally written in German.