The FBI has opened its first permanent office in Ecuador to tackle organised crime, money laundering, and corruption in collaboration with local law enforcement, Ecuador’s Interior Minister, John Reimberg, announced on Wednesday.
This move marks a new phase in security cooperation between Ecuador, under President Daniel Noboa, and the United States, led by President Donald Trump.
Both countries belong to a coalition against drug cartels, comprising 17 nations, an initiative launched by the US president during a summit with right-wing Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Saturday.
“The difference now is that we have FBI agents permanently stationed in Ecuador, working alongside a unit from the national police,” Reimberg told reporters. He added that the office had begun operations “immediately.”
The opening of the FBI’s first permanent bureau in Ecuador was hailed by the US Embassy in Quito as a “strategic and operational milestone.”
The two countries' joint ability to identify, dismantle, and prosecute those involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, arms smuggling, and terror financing is now significantly strengthened, Lawrence Petroni, the embassy’s chargé d’affaires, said in a statement shared on X.
Several Latin American capitals, including Bogotá, Brasília, Mexico City, and Buenos Aires, have housed FBI offices within US embassies for years.
President Noboa, who has declared a “war” on Ecuadorian gangs, is regarded as one of Donald Trump’s closest allies in Latin America.
