Argentina Designates Five Groups as Terrorist Entities

By the Editorial Team · Saturday, October 24, 2026

Argentina has officially labeled five Latin American criminal and guerrilla groups, including Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Colombia’s ELN and FARC-EP factions, as terrorist organizations under President Javier Milei’s administration. This move aligns Argentina’s security strategy more closely with U.S. policies and follows increased regional cooperation and funding to combat drug trafficking and organized crime.

Argentina has officially designated five Latin American criminal and guerrilla groups as terrorist organizations, a move announced on Thursday that aligns the South American nation’s security policy more closely with that of the United States. The decision, issued under President Javier Milei’s administration and published in the official gazette, follows similar actions taken by the previous U.S. government, which expanded its list of Latin American groups labeled as foreign terrorist organizations last year.

The newly designated groups include Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel, Ecuador’s Los Tiguerones gang, and Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) along with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP). Both Colombian groups have long histories as leftist insurgent organizations, with the FARC-EP name used by dissident factions that rejected the peace agreement signed a decade ago. The United States had previously classified all five groups as foreign terrorist organizations or similar.

In a statement issued Wednesday evening, the Argentine government linked the identified groups to drug trafficking and organized crime. The Sinaloa cartel was described as a transnational entity engaged in narcotics trafficking and kidnapping for ransom. The ELN and FARC-EP were characterized as far-left armed insurgencies adhering to Marxist-Leninist principles, while Los Tiguerones was noted for its involvement in contract killings and drug trafficking, making it one of the region’s most violent criminal organizations.

This announcement comes shortly after Argentina revealed that the U.S. had established a regional unit of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in Buenos Aires. The U.S. allocated $13.35 million to bolster joint efforts against drug trafficking and organized crime across the region.

Argentina has a history of designating groups linked to terrorism and financing as well. Previous listings include Venezuela’s Cartel of the Suns, Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, and three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood. These entities are added to a national registry aimed at monitoring and restricting terrorist financing activities.

Several neighboring countries have adopted comparable security stances. For instance, Ecuador designated 22 organized crime groups as terrorist organizations in January 2024 amid an internal armed conflict declaration. Likewise, Guatemala amended laws in October 2025 to classify gangs such as Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha as transnational criminal and terrorist organizations, measures that extend prison sentences for gang-related offenses. The U.S. had previously designated both these gangs as terrorist groups during the Trump administration.

Argentina’s latest designations underline an intensifying regional effort to combat drug trafficking and violence through legal and security frameworks that mirror those of the United States.

This article was reported by synthesizing coverage from multiple independent news outlets to present a balanced, unbiased account. Read about our editorial standards. Spotted an error? Let us know.