US pledges $45M security aid to Ecuador amid expanded anti-drug operations

In Quito this week, the United States deepened its security embrace of Ecuador, pledging $45 million and a fleet of naval vessels to a government that has staked its identity on waging war against drug trafficking organizations. Secretary of State Rubio's visit formalized what has become Washington's most intensive Latin American security partnership under the Trump administration, built on a shared conviction that criminal networks must be dismantled by force. Yet behind the language of alliance and resolve lies a harder question — one that 220 deaths and the grief of fishing families have pl