Seoul Gazette - Rubio eyes tough-security ally in Ecuador

Rubio will meet Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa, who has deployed troops to combat violence that has transformed the country from one of Latin America's safest to one of its most dangerous.

The stop comes two days after US forces said they blew up an alleged drug-running boat from a gang tied to Venezuela's leftist government, in an operation President Donald Trump said killed 11 people.

In Noboa, a businessman who has consolidated power since his surprise 2023 victory, Rubio could find a new ally in his campaign to strengthen security-minded right-wing leaders across Latin America.

For Rubio, a Cuban-American and vociferous critic of the region's leftists, Noboa could follow in the steps of El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, whose iron-fisted clampdown on crime has drawn complaints from rights groups but made him popular at home and a darling of the Trump administration.

Rubio, speaking Wednesday in Mexico on the first stop of his two-country tour, vowed no mercy against criminal groups.

He warned of more US attacks like the one in the Caribbean, a dramatic escalation by the United States after decades of routine policing work to seize drugs.

Rubio said that such interdictions did not work as they were not costly enough to gangs.

The United States "blew it up and it'll happen again. Maybe it's happening right now," Rubio told a news conference Wednesday.

AFP has not been able to verify independently the details of the attack presented by the United States.

Trump said the boat belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang he has designated as a terrorist organization, although the group is not known primarily for narcotics trafficking.

Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello accused the United States of committing extrajudicial killings, saying "they murdered 11 people without due process."

- Ecuador eyes agreements -

Ecuador's Interior Minister John Reimberg said he expected greater cooperation with the United States on combatting violence.

The United States "is a country that has maintained constant assistance in various issues," Reimberg told the Teleamazonas channel.

"We will see many more agreements that are fundamental to the security of our country."

Located between Colombia and Peru, the world's largest producers of cocaine, Ecuador is the departure point for 70 percent of the world's cocaine, nearly half of which goes to the United States, according to official data.

For years, the United States operated a military base at the Pacific port of Manta, and the Drug Enforcement Administration had a sizeable footprint in the country.

The base was closed in 2009, after leftist then-president Rafael Correa refused to renew the lease.

Noboa has moved to allow US forces to return, although a US official downplayed the possibility of any imminent return of a military presence.

The official said that Rubio will also present Ecuador as a cautionary tale after it amassed billions of dollars in debt to China.

The United States sees China as its top global adversary and has moved aggressively to combat its influence, but Beijing has eyed headway as the United States under Trump retreats from global aid.

B.Ha--SG