Ecuador's government on Friday defended American military strikes that sank three boats in recent days, even as relatives of people who were aboard said the vessels were fishing boats and accused Washington of acting without evidence to back its claim that the boats were trafficking drugs.
The strikes are part of a campaign that United States armed forces have carried out for the past year in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific aimed at combating drug trafficking.
The wife of a sailor who was aboard one of the boats hit by American forces said the vessel was a fishing boat and that the soldiers who boarded it found no drugs. The 47-year-old woman, identified only by her first name, Rosalba, said she did not understand why the American government had to act in such an arbitrary way. She said the boat was struck in Ecuadorian territorial waters, not in international waters.
Ecuador cites joint effort with Washington
Ecuador's government said the operation was carried out as part of a joint effort between Quito and Washington to combat criminal organizations that traffic drugs.
Ecuador's Interior Minister, John Reimberg, told the Teleamazonas network that the sinkings were the result of international cooperation. He said the boats had functioned as floating supply stations for speedboats that were smuggling drugs to Mexico and the United States.
US command links boats to Los Choneros gang
The United States Southern Command, known as SOUTHCOM and responsible for military operations across Latin America and the Caribbean, gave a briefing that echoed Ecuador's account, linking the boats that were struck to the Los Choneros gang. SOUTHCOM is the US military command that oversees American forces and operations throughout Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
SOUTHCOM released video showing commandos boarding one of the vessels, which was later destroyed in an explosion.
Los Choneros is a criminal organization that Ecuadorian and American officials have accused of running drug trafficking operations from Ecuador toward Mexico and the United States.
Separate vessel destroyed in Pacific
Ecuador's Ministry of National Defense also said, in a social media post dated September 2, 2026, that another boat used by drug traffickers as a fuel resupply point had been destroyed in international waters of the Pacific. The ministry said the vessel was linked to the Los Choneros organized crime group and had been used to sustain criminal operations at sea.
The strikes come amid an escalating American military campaign against drug trafficking networks operating from Latin America toward Mexico and the United States, one that has continued for roughly a year across the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
