Ecuador

Key Connections

• Drug Cartels — Noboa-era “internal armed conflict”
• Colombia — primary narco-threat upstream
• Venezuela — Tren de Aragua expansion vector
• People’s Republic of China — Coca Codo Sinclair; oil-backed debt
• South America — regional container
• USSOUTHCOM — JIATF-South counter-narcotics partner
• MERCOSUR — associate member
• Belt and Road Initiative — Chinese infrastructure dependency model
• Hybrid Warfare — narco-state capture analytical frame
• Monroe Doctrine — US security cooperation framing