U.S. designates Ecuador's Chone Killers as terrorist group

The U.S. State Department designated Ecuador’s Chone Killers as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, bringing the gang under sanctions that can freeze assets and widen pressure on financiers and associates. Marco Rubio said the group carried out numerous attacks against civilians, law enforcement officers and government officials, including high-profile assassinations.

The terrorist label can strengthen cross-border law-enforcement cooperation, make it harder for the group to move money through intermediaries, and tighten immigration and border screening around people tied to the organization. U.S. law says FTO designations are meant to cut off support for terrorist activity and force groups out of the business of financing violence.

Chone Killers emerged from Los Choneros before splitting off as an independent group in 2020. The gang is part of Ecuador’s shift from low-level street gangs to highly violent mafia-style groups and is a major force in Durán, the municipality near Guayaquil that sits beside a strategic cocaine-trafficking hub. The group’s break from Los Choneros was accelerated by the late-December 2020 assassination of José 'Rasquiña' Macías, which rattled the Ecuadorian underworld and helped fragment the criminal landscape. The group has also been tied to brutal conflict with the Latin Kings in Durán and to infiltration of local institutions and public-works contracting.

On September 4, 2025, the State Department designated Los Choneros and Los Lobos as FTOs and SDGTs, citing attacks and threats against officials, security personnel, judges, prosecutors and journalists in Ecuador. The new action places Chone Killers inside the same sanctions framework as those groups, while President Daniel Noboa continues working with U.S. officials on security and anti-cartel efforts. Human Rights Watch counted 504 homicides of children ages 10 to 19 from January to June 2025, a 68% increase from 2024.