Daniel Noboa, the South American ‘friend’ who invites Trump’s Army to Ecuador to liquidate drug trafficking

The announcement, spread through the social networksdetailed that “together” they took decisive action against the “narco-terrorists who have inflicted terror, violence and corruption” on citizens of the American hemisphere.

“These operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narcoterrorism,” the statement continued. American military command.

The military intervention occurs just two days after the general’s visit Francis Donovan to Quito, where he met with the Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa.

Donovan is the commander in chief of the Southern Command, the US army unit that has been in charge of the operation. South Spear against drug trafficking.

An account offered by The New York Times gives a balance of 44 attacks and 150 deaths as a consequence of actions in the Caribbean and the Pacific since the summer of 2025.

In a post published from his official account On network

It’s the first time since Donald Trump occupies the chair of the Oval Office that the United States Army intervenes in military actions on the territory of an allied country.

In November 2025, the Command Air Force On obtained permission from the Dominican authorities to temporarily use the San Isidro base. From there, attacks were launched on the drug boats that crossed the Caribbean, as a measure to pressure Venezuela.

In an exclusive interview that the Ecuadorian president gave to Fox News In November 2025, Noboa declared that “Ecuador will never give up national sovereignty.” “We are very willing to work to provide security to the people of the United States,” he added.

Noboa recognized his good relations with the department of National security of the United States and with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. He declared that there was broad agreement that problems such as drug trafficking, illegal mining and organized crime mafias were threats that had to be neutralized at their source.

His profile is very different from that of other leaders in the southern cone who define themselves as ‘friends’ of Trump. On the one hand, it presents a heavy-handed agenda against crime in the style of Nayib Bukelebut combined with a more pragmatic style.

Its alignment with the United States is more tactical than ideological. We must not forget that he is heir to a business empire.

Ecuador will never give up national sovereignty

The Ecuadorian president imitates some gestures of his Salvadoran namesake, such as the construction of a megaprison or the penal tougheningbut lacks Bukele’s personalist approach.

He wants to control the entire political and institutional apparatus of his country based on a continued “state of exception”, while Noboa must coexist with a complex political structure.

It also doesn’t look like Javier Miley. The Argentine president is a radical ideologue, a populist ultra-liberal who proposes an explicit program symbolized by the chainsaw.

Noboa, based on his moderation and pragmatism, knows that he needs the material support of the United States to eradicate the remains of Correa’s policy that turned his back on drug trafficking as a national problem. He faces very powerful enemies and, to do so, he needs the best army in the world on his side.