American Military Now Saving Crewmembers Before Blowing Up Suspected Drug Boats Off Ecuador

In an expansion of operations against alleged narco-terrorism in the waters off of South America, American military forces have started capturing and removing crewmembers before blowing up boats said to be used as floating refueling stations for traffickers.Since late August, the United States Southern Command says it has seized and sunk at least eight boats using a different tact from the deadly strikes on boats the military has identified as narco-trafficking.Ecuadorian and American military forces, in March, launched joint operations against alleged drug operations “to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere.” The vessel seizures are part of the latest phase of the operations.On August 28, the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere interdicted a vessel it said was operating as a floating refueling station in support of at-sea drug trafficking operations in international waters of the Eastern Pacific. Southern Command’s top officer, General Francis Donovan said intelligence confirmed the vessel, previously identified and targeted under Department of the Treasury sanctions, was operating in support of the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization.Marines and sailors boarded, searched, and removed the crew. The American forces then blew up the vessel and took the crew to Ecuador. Similar operations continued through the month of September against boats alleged to be helping refuel Los Choneros drug trafficking. The crews of those boats were also turned over to Ecuadorian police.“Alongside our Ecuadorian partners, we are relentlessly pursuing narco-terrorists who prey on our citizens, undermine hemispheric security, and leave death and suffering in their wake. This deliberate, lawful, and precise operation saves lives and makes our citizens—from Ecuador to the United States—safer,” General Donovan said in a release.When asked why American forces were removing the crews of some boats and killing them on other boats, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it depended on the operation. “So when you cooperate with Ecuador – they’ve been very cooperative – we’re jointly operating with them. So it depends on the vessel. It depends on the threat it poses. It depends on where it’s located,” Mr. Rubio, in September, told reporters at the American Embassy at Quito, Ecuador. “And then obviously we have to operate according to their laws in their territorial waters or their systems and protocols that they set in place,” Mr. Rubio said.Human Rights Watch says at least 160 crew members have been detained in the operations, but says many of them are being released because the American military has not provided any evidence of the alleged illegal operations.Of the seized crew members, 90 are facing criminal investigations in Ecuador, while Ecuadorian judges ruled that the arrest of 56 was unlawful, and 14 were not brought before a judge, according to the advocacy group.“Intercepting fuel trafficking at sea may be an important step to stop criminal groups, but that doesn’t allow security forces to arrest people without evidence, destroy their vessels, or abuse them,” the group’s Americas director, Juanita Goebertus said in a report issued this month.Some fishermen reported being beaten and threatened in an effort to coerce them into confessing that they were trafficking fuel.“Ecuador and the United States are not going to dismantle organized crime networks by arresting fishermen in cases backed by dubious evidence,” Ms. Goebertus said.

American Military Now Saving Crewmembers Before Blowing Up Suspected Drug Boats Off Ecuador

American Military Now Saving Crewmembers Before Blowing Up Suspected Drug Boats Off Ecuador

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