Thirteen Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives have demanded that Secretary of State Marco Rubio immediately suspend all American security assistance and military cooperation with Ecuador, accusing President Daniel Noboa's government of jailing opponents and eroding democracy.

The letter, sent on 6 November and led by Representatives Jesús "Chuy" García of Illinois, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Greg Casar of Texas, warns that Congress will use its powers to force a change of policy if the administration does not act.

It is the sharpest congressional challenge yet to Washington's deepening military partnership with Quito, which has grown rapidly this year as the Trump administration pursues its campaign against drug trafficking across Latin America.

What the lawmakers allege

Under Noboa, the lawmakers wrote, "Ecuador has seen the repression of opposition actors across the political spectrum, attacks on judicial independence, and restrictions on the freedom of the press." They urged Rubio to suspend assistance "until democracy and the rule of law are fully restored, and the persecution of González and other opposition figures and parties cease."

The letter points to the arrest and imprisonment of Luisa González, the former presidential candidate and leader of the opposition Revolución Ciudadana party, as the most alarming recent step. It also cites raids on the offices of Quito mayor Pabel Muñoz and the imprisonment of Guayaquil mayor Aquiles Álvarez, who has been held in a maximum-security prison since February 2026 without a final sentence.

The lawmakers say these cases show a "broader offensive against Noboa's opposition, both from the left and the right, on the eve of the November elections." They also raise concerns about abuses attributed to Ecuadorian security forces, including torture, extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and sexual abuse in women's prisons. Ecuador has been under a rolling state of emergency for a thousand days since Noboa took office, under which the government claims extraordinary powers.

Pressure on the US partnership

The thirteen signatories — who also include Jasmine Crockett, Ro Khanna, Rashida Tlaib, Summer Lee, Hank Johnson, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Nydia Velázquez, Adelita Grijalva, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Jonathan Jackson — propose blocking arms sales to Ecuador, suspending security assistance, prohibiting the use of approved funds for military operations and investigating US involvement in abuses against civilians, including an operation at a farm on Ecuador's northern border and the bombing of fishing boats.

"Should you fail to act, Congress will use the tools at its disposal to compel a change in policy," the letter warns.

The demand lands two months after Rubio visited Quito in September, when he said Washington would seek 45 million dollars in additional security funding for Ecuador and deliver a Coast Guard cutter and five interceptor vessels to its navy. The United States has also designated Los Tiguerones, one of Ecuador's most notorious gangs, as a foreign terrorist organisation.

A test for Washington's regional strategy

The lawmakers argue that the Trump administration has strengthened its security ties with Noboa without demanding accountability for human rights violations. "The United States cannot credibly claim to support democracy and the fight against drug-trafficking and organised crime while at the same time expanding its security relationship with a government that is rapidly tightening its authoritarian grip on power," the letter says.

The United States and Ecuador have signed 123 agreements between 2018 and 2026, according to the Ecuadorian Observatory of Conflicts at the Central University of Quito, with more than half signed under Noboa. The letter does not suspend any cooperation by itself — that decision rests with the administration — but it puts the partnership on the congressional agenda just as Washington weighs how far its military campaign in the region should go.