US-backed operation in Ecuador arrests over 30 linked to Mexican cartel

US troops helped Ecuador dismantle a local branch of Mexico's notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), arresting more than 30 members, Ecuador's interior minister said Thursday.

Quito, a Washington ally, is enthusiastically cooperating with US President Donald Trump's crackdown on organized crime across Latin America.

Thursday's early-morning operation "was conducted jointly with US troops and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," Ecuadoran Interior Minister John Reimberg wrote on X.

Over 30 Ecuadorans were arrested for allegedly belonging to the group with a "direct connection to the CJNG," he said.

The minister said the group was involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia, the world's largest producer, to international markets via ports in southwestern Ecuador.

Some 320 Ecuadoran police officers and 50 uniformed personnel from the US Southern Command took part in the operation spanning several cities, he said.

The military offensive against criminal organizations in Ecuador has caused alarm among human rights organizations, which denounce cases of excessive use of force, torture and enforced disappearance.

Right-wing President Daniel Noboa brushed off those concerns during an address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.

"We receive plenty of criticism regarding the fight against organized crime and very little concern about the number of victims we are seeing from organized crime," Noboa said.