Ecuador launches US-backed anti-drug operations: “We

Ecuador began this Sunday two weeks of operations against drug traffickers with the support of the United States, the latest show of joint force against drug cartels in the South American country.

The two countries are part of a 17-nation anti-cartel alliance launched by President Donald Trump. at a summit earlier this month.

Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, one of Trump’s staunchest allies on the continent, has spent the last two years attacking cocaine traffickersbut rates of associated crimes, including murders, disappearances and extortion, have not decreased.

Interior Minister John Reimberg had announced on Tuesday a “very strong offensive” that would begin on Sunday in the areas most affected by drug-related violence.

Night curfews were also imposed in the coastal provinces of Guayas, Los Ríos, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas and El Oro for the next two weeks.

“We are at war,” Reimberg said. “Don’t take risks, don’t go out, stay home.”

Around 35,000 soldiers will be deployed along with armored vehicles and helicopters, according to images and videos released by the authorities.

“To the mafias: your time is up. Nothing can stop us,” Reimberg wrote in a social media post on Sunday.

No further details were provided and it was unclear whether US soldiers would be directly involved on Ecuadorian soil, as was previously the case during Noboa’s presidency.

Earlier this month, US and Ecuadorian forces carried out joint strikes within Ecuadorand the Ecuadorian army sank a “narco-submarine” near its northern border.

Last week, the FBI said it would open an office in Ecuador to investigate organized crime, money laundering and corruption in conjunction with local police.

About 70 percent of drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest and second largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through Ecuador.