Arizona Tribune - Rubio defends anti-drug boat strikes, warns of cartel 'cancer'

Hailing a new generation of conservative leaders emerging across the region who are allied with President Donald Trump, Rubio said Washington was finding partners willing to be "very aggressive" against criminal groups.

Since Trump returned to power, the United States has embraced airstrikes against vessels plying known trafficking routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

According to Pentagon figures, the operations have killed more than 200 people.

Rights groups, fishermen and their relatives have questioned the campaign, alleging vessels were targeted without sufficient evidence of links to trafficking.

Experts have also questioned whether they do anything to curb the flow of cocaine and other drugs to the United States -- the world's largest consumer.

Speaking after talks with President Daniel Noboa in Quito, Rubio said the operations would continue.

"If you don't confront these groups, they will eat these countries alive," he warned. "It's like a cancer that continues to grow until you don't literally have a state anymore."

"I'm glad that we have leaders in this region that are serious about going after these groups, because if we didn't, we would have failed country after failed country."

In recent weeks there have been signs of a shift in tactics, with joint US-Ecuador patrols removing crews from at least six boats before sinking the vessels.

Rubio said decisions were made case by case and depended on the threat posed by a vessel, its location and local laws.

"When you're conducting a joint operation in territorial waters, you have to reach an understanding as to how those operations are going to occur," he said.

Asked whether vessels would continue to be destroyed, Rubio replied: "Well again, it depends, and we still blow up ships."

He argued the focus should be on disrupting trafficking routes rather than the means used against individual targets.

In Ecuador alone, more than 25,000 people have been murdered in the last three years as drug gangs have vied for control of trafficking routes.

"We are talking about terrorists who, in many cases, possess weapons and equipment resembling the national armies of certain countries," Rubio said.

While in Quito, he announced the designation of one gang, Los Tiguerones, as a "terrorist organization" and sanctions against seven Ecuadoran former officials.

The Tiguerones made international headlines in early 2024 when masked gang members stormed a TV studio during a live broadcast, firing shots and forcing terrified crew to the ground.

- Regional ambitions -

Rubio has visited Colombia and Ecuador and he will meet Peruvian leaders on Thursday, the last stop on a tour to shore up rightwing allies and bolster US influence across the region.

In Colombia, Rubio pledged to restore "natural relations" with Bogota after years of leftist rule.

He had less warm words for leftist-led Mexico, which he said was stepping up the cartel fight "but it is still not nearly enough."

"There are territories, vast territories in Mexico that are not governed by the state," he said. "That threat will have to be confronted one way or the other."

His last stop is in Peru, which has been led since July by conservative President Keiko Fujimori.

There, he is expected to advance the "Shield of the Americas" initiative, a US-backed security partnership.

T.Perez--AT