The Destabilization of Ecuador is Going As Planned

The killing of a prosecutor who was investigating U.S. drone strikes in Ecuadorian waters highlights how dangerous Ecuador has become under President Noboa

Photo by Andres Medina on Unsplash

Ecuadorian prosecutor Alexandra Bravo was investigating multiple U.S. strikes on Ecuadorian boats and the torture and kidnapping accounts from survivors when she was assassinated as she and her sister were leaving a cafe last month. Bravo’s sister was also killed after attempting to protect her sibling when a hitman riding a black motorcycle opened fire on them. Bravo’s driver was also wounded in the attack. Under current President Daniel Noboa, the killings of members of Ecuador’s justice system have become much more common, as has the repression of Ecuadorians opposed to Noboa’s policies.

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Her investigations specifically centered on three attacks on fishing boats that occurred in January and March, with a focus on the 36 survivors from the last two attacks who reported that they were kidnapped and tortured by U.S. forces before being turned over to Ecuadorian authorities. After the initial investigation found that there was “no sign of the police detail that had been assigned” to protect Bravo, suggesting they may have been tipped off, suspicion of U.S. involvement in the boat attacks and in Bravo’s death continues to grow. The Police Directorate investigating her murder is part of Noboa’s executive branch, raising more concerns.

Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-IL-04) expressed those concerns in a post on social media.

“For almost a year, the U.S. government has been illegally bombing fishing boats and killing people without evidence of wrongdoing,” Garcia said. “And last month, Alexandra Bravo, the Ecuadorian prosecutor investigating boats that were attacked or disappeared, was murdered. This is not a coincidence. There must be an independent investigation.”

Ecuador, as a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Americas Counter Cartel Coalition” (the afterbirth of his Shield of the Americas), has acted as a test bed for authortiatrian polices that follow Trump’s plans for dominion over Latin America. Under the guise of “counter-narcotics operations,” the White House has emboldened autocrats like Noboa by providing military assistance through joint operations. Those operations have mostly targeted Noboa’s opposition, such as indigenous groups and farmers, and not cartels.

Noboa has also targeted the country’s Constitutional Court, along with various other institutions that could provide checks on his power. His state of exception, which is meant to counter violence and grants the military special powers, has led to various kidnappings and murders, such as the four children who were killed in 2024 and the 16 Ecuadorian soldiers being prosecuted for their alleged forced disappearance. Noted was the Noboa government’s initial silence, and how it eventually said little about the case, as it has done with Bravo’s case.

In May, twenty members of Congress wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth expressing “concern that our military is deepening its ties with the Government of Ecuador, even as it undergoes an alarming authoritarian and anti-democratic drift,” and demanding an “immediate suspension” of joint U.S.-Ecuador military operations. The letter came in response to a report in the New York Times exposing how an Ecuadorian dairy farm was struck in March under the guise of targeting the facilities of narco-terrorists. The letter highlighted how “military personnel interrogated and assaulted unarmed civilians, burned homes and infrastructure, and subjected detainees to torture before the site was aerially bombarded…”

The attack, as reported by the New York Times, served as a preview of what Trump’s coalition was planning for Latin America during the Shield of the Americas summit in early March. Since then, the administration and Noboa’s government have lived up to the billing while not having any impact on curbing drug smuggling out of the country’s Pacific ports, which have become the region’s most efficient gateways for cocaine headed for Europe and the U.S.

Meanwhile, Noboa, who allegedly has ties to drug trafficking networks, has a major stake in the banana industry in Ecuador (Bonita) and a tight hold on the shipping industry in the country. Just recently, a shipment of bananas from Ecuador was intercepted in Italy, hiding an estimated $290 million (approximately 800 kilos) worth of cocaine. The U.S.’s silence about Noboa’s alleged ties and Trump’s pardoning of notorious drug smugglers suggests the United States seeks control of the illicit drug trade, not its elimination.

Despite more than 70% of Ecuador’s population living under a nightly curfew and with more than 75,000 troops deployed in what is referred to as the “largest internal security mobilization in the country’s recent history,” violence continues to surge. A nation once considered the safest in the region just 10 years ago is now the most violent in the hemisphere. The Noboa government’s repressive escalation, along with the U.S. military’s backing, has only increased violence in the country while emboldening an outwardly autocratic Noboa.

Meanwhile, organized crime and drug smuggling continue to surge seemingly unabated.

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