US Treasury sanctions Ecuador’s Los Lobos drug trafficking organisation and its leader

Numbering thousands of members, Los Lobos has emerged as Ecuador’s largest drug trafficking organization and contributes significantly to the violence gripping the country. This action builds on Treasury’s February 7 designation of Los Choneros—a prominent Ecuadorian drug gang—and comes as Ecuadorian criminal organizations backed by Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) and Sinaloa Cartel continue to drive violence and instability in Ecuador.