Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a substantial payment aimed at assisting Ecuadorian authorities in fighting violence coming from drug cartels in South America. 

In a joint press conference Thursday with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld in Quito, Mr. Rubio said the U.S. would provide $13.5 million to help Ecuador combat drugs and crime. 

“You cannot have economic prosperity without stability, and you cannot have stability without security,” Mr. Rubio said. “These are narco-terrorist organizations that operate in the region that are using Ecuador as a transit zone. And that needs to be confronted.” 

The secretary added that the U.S. would also provide $6 million worth of unmanned aerial vehicle drones to Ecuador’s navy, a move that Mr. Rubio said would improve Ecuadorian authorities’ domain awareness. 

Mr. Rubio also announced that the U.S. would designate the Los Lobos and Los Choneros drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The designation gives U.S. and Ecuadorian authorities more tools to track and eliminate the leaders of the cartels, the secretary said. 

The conference followed Mr. Rubio’s meeting with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa earlier in the day. The secretary said the two sides made significant progress on trade and extradition. 

SEE ALSO: Rubio says U.S. will continue targeting drug boats

Mr. Rubio’s visit to Ecuador comes as the Trump administration works to ramp up its attacks on drug trafficking in the Americas. On Tuesday, the U.S. military carried out a strike on an alleged drug boat traveling in the Caribbean. The bombing killed 11 people. 

Mr. Rubio said the U.S. had received intelligence that the vessel was piloted by the infamous Venezuelan drug cartel Tren de Aragua and was headed for the U.S. He pointed to the FTO designation from February when questioned by the media over the strike’s legality.

During a press conference in Mexico City on Wednesday, Mr. Rubio insisted that the prior regime of intercepting drug trafficking vessels was not working and that more strikes were coming. 

“The United States has long, for many, many years, established intelligence that allows us to interdict and stop drug boats. We did that. And it doesn’t work,” he said. “Instead of interdicting it, on the president’s orders, we blew it up. And it’ll happen again. Maybe it’s happening right now.”

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.