The United States on Wednesday designated the Ecuadorian gang the "Chone Killers" as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Rubio said the gang "has committed numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and government officials, including high-profile assassinations of public officials," and that it was also branded "specially designated global terrorists."
As a result, the Chone Killers' leaders and anyone associated with them can be subject to U.S. sanctions and criminal prosecution.
Ecuador's foreign ministry welcomed the designation, saying, "The Government of Ecuador thanks the firm support of the United States for the decision by President Daniel Noboa to maintain an all-out fight against criminal organizations," in a statement posted on X.
The Chone Killers are an offshoot of Los Chineros, a gang the United States previously designated as a foreign terrorist organization in 2020.
The designation freezes any assets the group or its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions.
Los Lobos (The Wolves) and Los Choneros (after the city of Chone) are among Ecuador's main drug trafficking and extortion gangs, with ties to international cartels; in September, Los Lobos was designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
Criminal gang violence continues unabated in Ecuador following the recapture in June 2025 of the country's biggest drug lord, Adolfo Macías, who leads Los Choneros, after his escape from a maximum-security prison in 2024; in July 2025, the Ecuadoran government extradited Macías to the United States, where he faces multiple drug trafficking and firearms charges.
Noboa has imposed curfews and deployed the military to several provinces in a U.S.-backed crackdown, and American commandos recently joined Ecuadorian troops in a joint mission aimed at dismantling a suspected criminal hub along the country's coast.
Last month, Mr. Trump said the U.S. military killed Tren de Aragua's alleged leader, saying on Truth Social that U.S. Southern Command carried out a "swift and lethal kinetic strike" to "successfully execute" Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero.