The Trump administration has expanded its list of Latin American and Caribbean criminal organisations designated as "foreign terrorist organisations" to 21, adding an Ecuadorian group on Wednesday. The announcement coincided with a regional tour by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who visited Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to advance Washington's anti-drug-trafficking strategy. The designations — a label traditionally reserved for politically motivated groups like al-Qaida rather than profit-driven crime rings — have been used to justify military strikes on alleged narco vessels, pressure on governments including Mexico (which has eight groups on the list), and joint operations across the region, though critics note contradictions in the approach, including Trump's pardon of a former Honduran president convicted of drug trafficking links.