Ecuadorian fishing communities demand answers over alleged US attacks at sea

Accounts from Ecuador's Pacific coast

Ecuadorian fishing communities are pressing their government and the United States for evidence and accountability after more crews described violent encounters during Washington's expanding maritime counter-narcotics campaign. Al Jazeera reported the allegations from Manta and nearby coastal settlements on September 11. The claims include boats being destroyed, fishermen being detained at sea and families receiving no clear explanation for missing relatives. The US military denies responsibility for at least one of the reported sinkings, leaving the most serious accusations contested rather than independently confirmed.

Fisherman Jose Hernan Flores said military-style drones struck his vessel, La Negra Francisca Duarte II, in March while he and 15 crew members were fishing. Two people were injured and the crew abandoned the burning boat. Flores said uniformed US personnel later restrained and blindfolded them, treated the wounded and transferred the group to Salvadoran naval personnel. They spent more than a week at sea before returning to Ecuador. His account is direct testimony reported by Al Jazeera; it is not an admission by Washington.

Separate families in Santa Marianita are seeking information about eight people who disappeared from the fishing vessel Fiorella near the Galapagos Islands in January. Two surviving crew members had been away from the main vessel in smaller craft and later reported seeing smoke. The United States has not publicly acknowledged attacking the Fiorella, so the families' suspicion cannot be presented as a confirmed US operation. Their protest nevertheless shows how uncertainty is spreading through communities dependent on long offshore voyages.

A campaign with a growing military footprint

The official context is broader than the individual allegations. A May report from the US Defense Department's inspector-general system described Operation Southern Spear as a military effort against designated drug-trafficking organisations. It said US forces struck at least 45 small boats between September 2025 and March 2026, leaving 156 people killed or presumed dead. The report also recorded the deployment of US troops to Ecuador in early March for combined counter-trafficking operations.

US Southern Command has acknowledged other recent interdictions. According to Al Jazeera, it announced this week that personnel removed people from a vessel described as a floating refuelling station linked to Los Choneros before sinking it. The report also said an Ecuadorian judge released 28 fishermen after finding insufficient evidence to hold them. Those developments sharpen the distinction between acknowledged interdictions, disputed attacks and disappearances for which responsibility remains unknown.

What comes next

The immediate test is whether Ecuadorian authorities publish case-by-case evidence about detained or missing crews and whether Washington explains the legal and evidentiary standards used before boats are attacked or destroyed. Fishing representatives say fear is keeping vessels in port, raising economic costs even for crews never accused of trafficking. Any investigation will need to reconcile military operational records, Ecuadorian court files, vessel tracking data and survivor testimony. Until that happens, the new accounts establish a serious accountability dispute, not proof that every missing boat was targeted by US forces.