Ecuador says CJNG-linked cell dismantled with U.S. participation
Original reporting: Noroeste Seguridad
What happened
Ecuadorian authorities said they detained about 30 people in an operation involving roughly 320 Ecuadorian police and 50 U.S. Southern Command personnel. The Interior Ministry said the group had alleged ties to the CJNG and moved Colombian cocaine through Guayaquil and Machala. The report also describes a previous operation against a Los Choneros suspect and criticism from human-rights organizations.
Reporting and context
Ecuadorian authorities said they dismantled a local arm of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) in an operation involving U.S. personnel and the Drug Enforcement Administration. According to Noroeste Seguridad, Ecuador’s Interior Minister John Reimberg Oviedo said the operation ended with the detention of about 30 Ecuadorian nationals, whom he attributed a “direct relationship with the CJNG.” The operation took place before dawn on Sept. 24, 2026, in several cities.
About 320 Ecuadorian police officers and 50 personnel from the U.S. Southern Command took part, the minister said. One raid was carried out in an exclusive residential area of Samborondón, near Guayaquil. Reimberg Oviedo said the organization allegedly moved cocaine produced in Colombia toward international markets through the ports of Guayaquil and Machala.
Noroeste reported that the operation came one day after Ecuadorian and U.S. forces killed a suspected member of the Ecuadorian gang Los Choneros known as “Charlie” near Manta. Ecuadorian authorities said Charlie was among the group’s most-wanted criminals and had links to the Oliver Sinisterra Front, a Colombian dissident group, and the CJNG. President Daniel Noboa said the action was aimed at people who threaten Ecuadorians or finance crime from abroad.
The joint Quito-Washington campaign has drawn criticism from human-rights organizations, which have reported alleged abuses of force, torture and enforced disappearance during military operations in Ecuador. In a Sept. 23 address to the United Nations General Assembly, Noboa proposed an international mechanism to trace and freeze organized-crime finances and said Ecuador faced many questions about its anti-crime campaign but too few about the number of victims.