Truthout is a vital news source and a living history of political struggle. If you think our work is valuable, support us with a donation of any size.

U.S. boat strikes across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 221 people since September, while the Trump administration has provided no evidence linking the vessels or their passengers to drug trafficking. Ecuadorian prosecutor Alexandra Bravo was fatally shot on June 14 by a hitman in the city of Manta. Bravo had been investigating U.S. strikes on three Ecuadorian boats in which 36 passengers survived, many of them recounting alleged torture by American gunmen in U.S. military uniforms aboard a U.S.-flagged patrol ship.

The allegations of U.S. boat strikes and torture Bravo was investigating “are a reflection of the growing U.S.-backed military dictatorship in Ecuador,” says Camila Lourdes Galarza, an investigative journalist and labor organizer based in Quito. Lourdes Galarza says that during Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa’s reelection last year, former Blackwater mercenaries patrolled voting sites at gunpoint.

“The Trump administration has deepened U.S. security cooperation with Ecuador as a response to the surge in violence in [Ecuador], particularly to the growth of organized crime groups,” adds Juanita Goebertus, director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch. “None of the two governments have provided transparency about the nature of their security cooperation.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

Pentagon Slashed Civilian Harm Reduction Staff and Is Instead Using AI

We turn now to Ecuador, where the recent killing of a prosecutor who was investigating reports of torture by the survivors of U.S. strikes on three separate Ecuadorian fishing vessels has sparked intensifying calls for an independent probe into the Trump administration’s military campaign in the region.

Ecuadorian prosecutor Alexandra Bravo and her sister were fatally shot June 14th by a hitman on a black motorcycle who opened fire on Bravo in the city of Manta, Ecuador. Bravo had been investigating U.S. strikes on three Ecuadorian boats in which 36 on board survived, many of them recounting alleged torture by U.S. gunmen in U.S. military uniforms aboard a U.S.-flagged patrol ship.

In March, two of the fishing vessels came under attack in the eastern Pacific. A third boat disappeared January 20th along with eight of its crew members. Captain Hernán Flores was fishing with his crew about 170 miles off the coast of Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands on March 17th when an unmanned drone crashed into the cabin of his boat, known as La Negra Francisca, exploding into flames. After being taken by alleged U.S. armed forces, Flores and his crew were then turned over to authorities in El Salvador. In this clip shared with Democracy Now!, Flores describes the day his fishing boat was attacked by drones.

HERNÁN FLORES: [translated] They handcuffed us and put hoods over our heads. But through the hoods, there was some visibility, very faint. I could just make out their beards. They had beards, white or yellowish, and their hair was combed back. They were speaking English, which we didn’t understand, but there was one person who translated into Spanish. … They made a mistake, because if we had been carrying anything illicit, they would have found something, but they never found anything. A captain from El Salvador were actually surprised. He kept asking for proof of something, but they never provided any. They simply said we were shipwrecked.

HERNÁN FLORES: [translated] They handcuffed us and put hoods over our heads. But through the hoods, there was some visibility, very faint. I could just make out their beards. They had beards, white or yellowish, and their hair was combed back. They were speaking English, which we didn’t understand, but there was one person who translated into Spanish. …

They made a mistake, because if we had been carrying anything illicit, they would have found something, but they never found anything. A captain from El Salvador were actually surprised. He kept asking for proof of something, but they never provided any. They simply said we were shipwrecked.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Hernán Flores, captain of the Ecuadorian fishing vessel known as La Negra Francisca.

U.S. boat strikes across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 221 people since September. The Trump administration has provided no evidence linking the vessels or any of the passengers to drug trafficking.

This all comes as a new report by Human Rights Watch raises alarm over abuses on civilians as part of a joint U.S.-Ecuador military campaign under the government of the right-wing Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.

For more, we’re joined by two guests. Camila Lourdes Galarza is an investigative journalist and labor organizer based in Quito,........

© Truthout