U.S.-Ecuador forces sink suspected Los Choneros vessel

Reporting and context

El Financiero reports that a U.S. Joint Task Force working with Ecuador intercepted and sank a vessel on Wednesday in international waters of the eastern Pacific. The report says the boat allegedly operated as a floating fuel-refueling station and was allegedly used by Los Choneros, an Ecuadorian criminal group that U.S. authorities describe as linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. According to U.S. Southern Command, sailors searched the vessel and cleared it “without incident,” while people removed from the boat were transferred safely to Ecuadorian authorities.

Southern Command said the vessel supported “illicit high-sea drug-trafficking operations” and characterized the action as cutting a critical node in traffickers’ logistics chain. El Financiero reported that this was the second vessel U.S. forces had sunk in less than a week, after a similar operation the previous Friday involving another boat allegedly used as a refueling station for speedboats linked to Los Choneros. Those descriptions remain claims attributed to the U.S. command and the source report.

The operation came about one year after the U.S. military began a campaign against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America’s Pacific coast. El Financiero reported a death toll of more than 220 in that campaign, but the available material did not provide an independent breakdown or additional verification. The report also said Ecuador and the United States have conducted operations near Colombia’s border and that senior military officials from the three countries met on August 27 to discuss cross-border criminal groups and drug-trafficking networks.