ECUADOR FISHERS' CLAIMS RAISE PRESSURE ON U.S. BOAT STRIKES

Ecuadorian fishermen say U.S.-linked maritime operations destroyed their boats and led to their detention, adding pressure to a lethal U.S. campaign against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean. NPR reported through member stations that fishermen described being attacked at sea by a U.S.-flagged vessel, detained, cuffed, and later handed over to Salvadoran authorities, with no charges filed in the U.S., El Salvador, or Ecuador.

The allegations sit inside a much larger and still-growing campaign. AP reported Wednesday that the U.S. military carried out another strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, killing one person and leaving two survivors; AP reported Thursday that another strike killed two more people. AP says the campaign has killed at least 196 people since September, while the military has not publicly presented concrete evidence that the targeted vessels were carrying drugs.

A Pentagon inspector general review is now examining whether the military followed the Joint Targeting Cycle during the strikes, but AP and Reuters both report the review will not address the legality of the campaign itself. That distinction matters: process compliance is not the same as answering whether lethal military force is lawful against suspected smugglers who have not been tried, identified publicly, or shown publicly to be armed combatants.

The fishermen's accounts are claims, while U.S. officials maintain the campaign targets narcotraffickers. But the public-interest issue is clear: if fishing crews or civilians are being hit, detained, or misidentified inside a military campaign with limited public evidence, the question becomes not only drug enforcement but accountability, targeting standards, and civilian protection. The U.S. Department of Defense has not publicly commented on the specific incidents described by the Ecuadorian fishermen.