The United States has stepped up its tactics against organized crime in Latin America, including designating various Latin American criminal groups as “foreign terrorist organizations” in 2025.
This designation allows the United States to take more aggressive action against groups it considers terrorist by arguing that they threaten national security and national interests.
Click on each country to see the list of local criminal groups designated as terrorists by the United States, and on each group to access its criminal profile.
Below are the Latin American criminal groups currently on the U.S. list of “foreign terrorist organizations.”
- Jalisco New Generation Cartel (Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG)
- Sinaloa Cartel
- Gulf Cartel
- Jalisco Cartel
- Lobos
- Choneros
- Second Marquetalia (Segunda Marquetalia)
- Train from Aragua
- Dissident groups of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC)
- National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN)
- Ward 18
- Mara Salvatrucha
- Viv Ansanm
- Great sorrow
These groups, many of which are known for their size and violence, are involved in activities such as drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, theft, kidnapping, murder, illegal mining and other crimes.
In September, the United States launched a military deployment to the Caribbean and began carry out strikes in international waters against vessels allegedly linked to listed groups.
Latin American countries designate criminal groups as terrorists
Across the region, several Latin American countries have also designated the gangs as terrorist organizations. In 2022, Salvadoran authorities passed a law defining Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha as “terrorist organizations.” In January 2024, after declaring the existence of an internal armed conflict, Ecuador designated 22 local criminal groups as “terrorist organizations.”
Although the United States was not the first country to label the gangs as terrorists, the designations made under President Donald Trump appear to have encouraged other countries to take similar steps. Ecuador and Argentina declared the Cartel de los Soles a terrorist organization in August, and Peru followed suit in September. Argentina then extended its designation to the Lobos and Choneros in October. In November, Guatemala approved a law declaring Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha “terrorist.”
Governments also insisted that action be taken at the multilateral level. In June, the United States, Argentina and Peru asked the Organization of American States (OAS) to designate Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organization.
