The U.S. Department of State announced this Thursday that it has formally designated 21 Latin American and Caribbean cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations, as part of the hemispheric security strategy driven by the Trump administration.
The announcement was disseminated by the Office of Counterterrorism of the Department of State, which attributed the action to the leadership of President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"Under the leadership of the president and Secretary Rubio, the United States has designated 21 cartels and gangs as terrorist organizations to keep the U.S. safe and secure, and to protect the Western Hemisphere against the scourge of narco-terrorism," stated the office.
The measure comes two days after 15 governments from the hemisphere issued a joint statement under the Shield of the Americas committing to act collectively against 24 narco-terrorist organizations.
The signing countries are the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
That multilateral document lists three additional groups to the 21 unilaterally designated by Washington: the Colombian ELN, Peruvian Sendero Luminoso, and the dissidents of the FARC, including the Central General Staff and the Second Marquetalia, organizations that several countries in the coalition already have on their own national lists.
The announced joint measures include asset freezes, immigration and visa restrictions for members, associates, and supporters of the groups, as well as criminal liability for those who provide material or logistical support.
The designation process began on February 20, 2025, when the Trump administration declared the first eight groups as terrorists: the Tren de Aragua, MS-13, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Northeast Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, the Gulf Cartel, and United Cartels.
The list gradually expanded. The Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles was included in November 2025, and the Colombian Clan del Golfo was designated in December of the same year.
Haitian groups such as Gran Grif and Viv Ansanm, Brazilian organizations like Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, and Ecuadorian bands such as Los Choneros and Chone Killers were also included.
The most recently added group was Los Tiguerones, an Ecuadorian organization that emerged in Guayaquil in 2019 as the armed wing of Los Choneros, whose designation was formalized on September 10, 2026, raising the total to 21.
The Shield of the Americas, launched in March 2026 at a summit held at the Trump National Doral in Miami with 12 founding countries, has grown to include nearly 20 nations. Colombia joined in August 2026 after requesting U.S. cooperation for joint operations against narcoterrorism.
The signatories also announced their intention to formally request a consultation meeting from the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States under the Inter-American Reciprocal Assistance Treaty to adopt collective resolutions against these organizations, which would elevate the pressure to the multilateral level with international legal backing.
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