Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on Tuesday detailed four attacks on Ecuadorian people and ships, which they attributed to an intensified counternarcotics campaign carried out by the United States in collaboration with the Ecuadorian government.
The first attack occurred in March 2026 on a farm in Saint Martin and was Confirmed by the US government as a partner military operation.The remaining three incidents occurred in January Disappearance of the Fiorellaan Ecuadorian fishing vessel, and armed drone attacks on two other fishing vessels named La Negra Francisco Duarte II And Don Maca.
The incident on According to HRW, a series of human rights violations against innocent workers occurred at the San Martín farm. Ecuadorian soldiers arrested and tortured four men, burned three properties, and fired air-dropped ammunition at two of the three burned properties. The men were taken to a military facility but were eventually released when a prosecutor declined to charge them.
The Ecuadorian and US governments classified the San Martín incident as a successful military operation Operation “Total Annihilation“ against the drug trafficking group Comandos de la Frontera (CDF). The target of the operation was reportedly the CDF leader known by the pseudonym “Mono Tole”. Secretary Pete Hegseth celebrated the “land-based bombing of narco-terrorists.”
The Fiorella The incident occurred on January 20, 2026 and resulted in eight of the ten crew members missing. After leaving the port of When the ship landed in Jaramijó, Ecuador, on January 13, it entered international waters, where it was reportedly monitored and patrolled by aircraft, boats and drones bearing US insignia. On January 20, one of the two boats left the boat and heard desperate screams coming from there Fiorella The crew reported on the radio, lost all communication with the ship, and then saw a large column of smoke rising from the direction of the ship. That was the last news anyone heard of it Fiorella and second boat.
La Negra Francisco Duarte II And Don Maca Crew members report being hit by a drone on March 17 and then hooded and handcuffed by boats bearing signs of U.S. origin. The suspected US forces then transferred the crew members to Salvadoran custody.
The USA has disputed Involvement in the three fishing vessel incidents despite their similarity Operation Southern Spear Missions. Southern Spear is the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) operation that uses deadly airstrikes against small boats suspected of smuggling illegal drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. The first attack took place in September 2025 against Venezuela, but the main targets of the operation are Mexico and Colombia, countries considered by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to be major sources of US drugs.
Ecuador has adopted U.S. anti-drug sentiment with President Daniel Noboa’s government implementing policies through the security bloc led by Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo and Armed Forces Joint Command chief Henry Delgado Salvador. The government has pledged to make further efforts eliminate criminal activities in the region.
