Trump's Drug War trends in the South America

Created Friday 03 April 2026

I already wrote about Trumps evolving drug war in Latin America. WOLA meanwhile, recently dropped an update on trends in South America, and in particular in Ecuador.

Instead of just aid, training and intelligence sharing, Trump's administration prefers a direct drug interdiction plan. Mexico has been coming under a lot of pressure from the US to allow this, but so far it has just been rolled out in Ecuador.

As WOLA reports, in Ecuador we see efforts:

"...toward ‘joint targeting’ efforts where U.S. technical expertise supports Ecuadorian Special Forces in precision raids,” according to U.S. Southern Command’s online magazine.

Yet resistance to this kind of military action remains. Mainly because US actions in Latin America often evokes memories of 19th and 20th century bloody imperial machinations.

One strategy to counter this has been label cartels as Narco-Terrorists. This is a strategy that paints them as a direct threat to the states. A fallacy, but one that permeates liberal academia and journalism into mainstream thought.

This makes it easy to justify US actions in the region. Not just to an isolationist MAGA base in the US, but to Latin American populations suffering increasing violence.

Therefore, it is no surprise to see, as WOLA notes, that the US's Narco-Terrorist designation in South America is expanding. Since 2025 the list has grown from four to 19. With two more Brazilian groups expected to be added soon. All in preparation for the roll out of a more muscular drug war.