The Milei government declared the "Chone Killers" as a Terrorist Organization

The Government of the Argentine Republic, under the firm leadership of President Javier G. Milei, has marked an unprecedented milestone in the defense of national security by formally declaring the bloodthirsty Ecuadorian narcocriminal gang Chone Killers as a terrorist organization.

This historic determination, formalized on August 6 through an Official Statement from the Office of the President and endorsed in the Official Bulletin, aims primarily to deliver a lethal preventive blow to prevent any attempt to establish or finance this criminal organization on Argentine territory.

The measure demonstrates the relentless determination of the new Argentina to combat transnational organized crime without any hesitation or concessions, drastically contrasting with the open borders and passivity policies of previous administrations.

The firm stance of the Casa Rosada strategically and exemplarily aligns with the foreign policy of the United States, a power that on July 1 designated the Chone Killers as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT).

This historic American measure was signed and supported by the influential Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who harshly stated: "Ecuadorian gangs help Mexican cartels transport and export illicit drugs to finance terrorism and criminal activity".

Furthermore, the Argentine decree acts in absolute solidarity with the President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, who in January 2024 declared 22 criminal groups, including the Chone Killers, as terrorist organizations in his own territory amid an unprecedented wave of violence. The declaration occurs just during the pivotal trip of Javier Milei to Ecuadorian lands to hold a key bilateral meeting with his counterpart Daniel Noboa.

On a technical and operational level, this measure was adopted thanks to impeccable institutional coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship and the Ministry of National Security.

The decision is based on rigorous classified reports prepared by the competent areas of both ministries, which credibly establish that this group represents a real and potential external threat to national security, endangering the life, property, and heritage of the inhabitants of the Nation.

The registration of the gang in the Public Register of Persons and Entities Linked to Acts of Terrorism and Their Financing (RePET), under the Ministry of Justice, immediately enables the application of severe financial sanctions and operational restrictions aimed at suffocating their capacity for action and protecting the local financial system from being used for their illicit purposes.

Originally, they operated as the armed wing specialized in contract killing of that gang, but they achieved their criminal independence at the end of 2020 after the assassination of the top boss of Los Choneros, Jorge Luis Zambrano, alias "Rasquiña".

From their base in the coastal area of Guayaquil, a key port through which drugs flow to the United States, the gang consolidated by grouping former cells of the gang Los Ñetas and independent leaders.

Their bloody calling card occurred in 2020 in the town of Durán, where they perpetrated a brutal triple murder against members of the rival gang Latin Kings.

Although they are structured as a hyper-businesslike and disorganized organization, allowing their cells or "chapters" to have neighborhood autonomy, they coordinate brutal criminal operations at the street level, maintaining close ties with dangerous Mexican cartels for drug transportation.

In recent years, the pursuit of these criminals by Ecuadorian security forces has been relentless, managing to decapitate part of their structure. One of their top leaders in the Durán area, Julio Alberto Martínez, alias "Negro Tulio", was identified as the mastermind behind multiple high-profile murders of public officials; after being captured in Panama in May 2024, he received one of the harshest sentences: 34 years in prison for the crime of terrorism.

Additionally, the Armed Forces of Ecuador managed to capture another of their main leaders, Marcos Armando D., alias "Pan de Piña". This dangerous criminal was free after a prosecutor from Guayaquil controversially withdrew the request for preventive detention after his arrest in mid-last month.

In light of this scandalous ruling by the judicial corporation, the Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior, John Reimberg, bravely denounced the responsible prosecutor and ordered that "Pan de Piña" be effectively detained. At the time of his final capture, law enforcement seized firearms, ammunition, and an illegal substance that was allegedly heroin.