The Trump administration has designated the Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones as a "foreign terrorist organization," bringing its total list of designated groups in Latin America and the Caribbean to 21. The move, announced by the State Department during Secretary of State Marco Rubio's diplomatic tour of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, extends a strategy launched in February 2025 that applies a label once reserved for politically motivated groups like ISIS and al-Qaida to financially driven criminal networks, in order to cut off their access to the US financial system and increase pressure on them and their associates.

Los Tiguerones is accused of narcotrafficking and violent attacks on civilians, police and journalists, including the live takeover of an Ecuadorian television station in 2024. The wider designation strategy has previously underpinned the US capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and numerous lethal strikes on boats suspected of drug trafficking, and has prompted countries including Guatemala and Argentina to take similar measures. Mexico has the most designated groups of any country, with eight, and remains under pressure from Washington over cartel activity, even as critics note apparent inconsistency in Trump's approach after he pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, previously jailed for drug trafficking.