Ecuador: the United States sinks a fourth boat, which it accuses of drug trafficking; “They are criminalizing fishing activity,” protest local fishermen
On Saturday September 5, the United States sank a fourth ship suspected of links to drug trafficking off the coast of Ecuador, during a joint operation with this country broadcast on social networks by the American army.
“Once the main ship was secured and the crew disembarked, American forces sank it along with the support boats attached to it”wrote the US Army Southern Command (SouthCom) on X. According to the American army, the boat destroyed “operated in support of the violent narcoterrorist organization Los Choneros”.
For its part, the Ecuadorian navy declared that it had taken charge of 26 crew members of the ship Maria Candelariawhich are now on their way to the port of Manta (southwest of the country).
In this same port, the crew members of two other boats sunk by the United States in recent days were taken to a police station upon their arrival on Friday, before being released by a judge on Saturday without being charged.
The “Shield of the Americas”
“They are criminalizing the fishing activity, to the point that, for the American Navy, any fisherman who goes on a fishing trip is a potential criminal”complained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) César Delgado, representative of the fishing sector in Manta.
In total, four Ecuadorian-flagged ships have been destroyed by the US Navy in recent days for alleged links to drug trafficking. Their crews have all denied being involved in any drug trafficking.
In July, the NGO Human Rights Watch said that three boats had been attacked by American forces off the coast of Ecuador, leaving at least eight missing, which Washington denies.
With the support of the United States, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa is waging a war against drug trafficking and has brought his country into the “Shield of the Americas”, an anti-drug coalition of around twenty Latin American and Caribbean states led by American President Donald Trump.
