Daniel Nemaa de Ecuador wants us and Europe to join the battle against gangs

The president of Ecuador, Daniel Novoa, told the BBC that he wants American, European and Brazilian armies to join his “war” against criminal gangs.

He added that he wants US President Donald Trump to designate Ecuadorian gangs as terrorist groups, as he has done for some Mexican and Venezuelan posters.

He also said that the Ecuadorian law would be respected when asked about his recent association with Erik Prince, a Trump ally and founder of the controversial private military firm Blackwater.

Violence has shot in Ecuador in recent yearswith gangs fighting to control drug trafficking routes. Most of the world’s cocaine is trafficked through the ports of Ecuador.

President Nemaa has previously indicated that he would like foreign military aid to help address drug cartels, but this is the first time he highlighted the United States, Brazil and Europe.

Security, and how it is treating it, is a main problem for voters before A runoff vote in the presidential elections of Ecuador April 13.

Nnovera has defined his 16 months in office through a hard repression against gangs and militarizing the streets and prisons, however, he has also been criticized for critics who see their tactics as too heavy.

During his mandate, the murder rate decreased by approximately 16% from 2023 to 2024, but remains much higher than the previous years, and in January 2025 the murders reached a record of 781 in a month.

In an interview with BBC News, the starting president said: “We need to have more soldiers to fight this war.”

“The seventy percent of the world’s cocaine exits through Ecuador. We need the help of international forces.”

He said that what began as “criminal gangs” are now groups of “international narcorists” of 14,000 armed people.

Donald Trump’s decision to designate some Latin American posters as terrorist groups has given the US police more powers to fight them.

Nnovoa told the BBC that he wants his American counterpart to do the same with the Ecuadorian gangs: “I would be glad if I consider the wolves, the choneros, the Tiguerones as terrorist groups because that is what they really are.”

Neboa has already ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to seek cooperation agreements with “allied nations” to support the Police and the Army of Ecuador, and is also seeking parliamentary approval to change the Constitution to allow foreign military bases in Ecuador again.

In addition to constitutional changes, it would require other nations to be willing to offer this. The implementation of armies abroad can be risky and expensive, but there is some precedent for it. The United States had a military base for its anti -narcotics operations in Ecuador until 2009, before they were prohibited by former President Rafael Correa.

The challenge of President Novoa will be to convince figures such as Donald Trump in the United States, or leaders in Europe, where many drugs are sent, which is also of interest to stop posters and drug trafficking.

In the alliance with Trump’s ally, Prince Erik, who announced a few days ago, said: “We are fighting a war of unconventional urban guerrillas. He has the experience. He is advising our armed forces, our police.”

Prince founded the private military firm Blackwater that has provided security services to US governments, but has also been involved in controversy. He sold the company in 2010.

Four Blackwater contractors were convicted and imprisoned for killing 14 Iraqi citizens in the Baghdad Square in 2007 and were then forgiven by Trump in 2020.

Does President Nemaa want Mr. Prince to bring mercenaries to the country?

“Not necessarily mercenaries,” he said. “We are talking about armies. US special, European, Brazilian forces. This could be of great help to us.”

While some supported the measure, some Ecuadorians cited the past record of Mr. Prince and the abuses of the rights feared in the country.

When asked about some of Erik Prince’s past controversies, Nebnoa said that Ecuador’s laws must be respected and that war is carried out legally.

But, he added, the posters had “violated each possible human right during the last five years.”

“They have mutilated people. They have raped thousands of women. They have trafficked human organs. They have changed illegal gold. And moved more than 1,000 tons of cocaine a year.”

Last year, his iron punch approach was criticized later Four children were arrested for soldiers for an alleged robbery and then mutilated and burned.

Novoa said those soldiers were in jail pending an investigation, but that “he would fight until the end” to condemn those responsible.

He maintained that the armed forces were acting proportionally when addressing the crime and pointed out an imbalance between its 35,000 military members and 40,000 armed gangs.

With the record number of murders in January, the main critics argue that their strict approach is failing.

During a campaign demonstration, his leftist challenger Luisa González said: “The promises of the campaign made in 2023 would be delivered in a year and a half. Not two. Not three. Did you deliver? No!”

Novoa said it was normal to see the growing violence before the elections in his country, but reiterated that Ecuador could not fight only with this problem: “This is a transnational crime without a transnational security policy.”

While Albanian, Mexican and Colombian posters worked together, there was no joint security policy among countries affected by drug violence, he said.

Ecuador needs help, he argued, because his economy is smaller than many in Europe or the United States, where most drugs are sent.

He added drug trafficking and illegal mining generated $ 30 billion (£ 23 billion), about 27% of GDP, annually in Ecuador.

He urged countries where cocaine consumption is high, such as the United Kingdom, to do more to address this discussion: “The product they are consuming has a chain of violence and misery.”

Violence and post-pandemic unemployment have led many Ecuadorians to flee north.

They are now one of the main nationalities that cross the dangerous jungle of Darien Gap from South to North America.

President Nemaa is willing to recover Ecuadorian migrants from the United States, but not other nationalities, and said that the country was giving technical training to returnees and a minimum wage for three months.

For him, the solution is to improve the “opportunities.”

“We need to develop, as an export -based economy, jobs in Ecuador for these people.”

While he said that “100%” empathy with the people fleeing violence, blamed for a “lack of security policy”.

Your message to Ecuadorians now? “Stay, and you will see positive results. We are reducing inflation. Companies are hiring. The economy is recovering.”

Daniel Nnovera will face Luisa González in the runoff vote next month.

He received only 0.5% more votes than her in the first roundsuggest that the second round could be very close and polarizing.

With security as the main problem for voters, their success, or not, can depend on whether Ecuadorians think that progress has been good enough.