{"id":868930,"date":"2026-06-15T13:14:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/868930\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T13:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T13:14:35","slug":"the-mystery-of-the-sunken-ecuadorean-fishing-boats-u-s-denies-drone-attacks-taking-crews-prisoner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/868930\/","title":{"rendered":"The mystery of the sunken Ecuadorean fishing boats: U.S. denies drone attacks, taking crews prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In March, a pair of Ecuadorean fishing boats in the Pacific burst into flames, forcing both crews to abandon ship. Months later, the incidents \u2014 which occurred well after the Trump administration launched its bombing campaign targeting alleged drug boats \u2014 have left more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

All 36 crewmen survived, but they have recounted an astonishing story: The fishermen say drones bombarded their boats and that they were then taken at gunpoint as prisoners aboard U.S. military vessels. After some hours, the fishermen say, they were turned over to Salvadoran patrol boats, which took the crews to El Salvador.<\/p>\n

U.S. authorities deny any part in the puzzling series of events, which involved a pair of 35-ton fishing craft \u2014 not the sleek speedboats typically pictured in Department of Defense videos of maritime strikes. <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A mother and daughter record video of boat that caught fire in Manta, Ecuador\u2019s main fishing harbor and the home port of fishing vessels that went missing in March. <\/p>\n

Last week, two Democratic congressmen wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other high-ranking Trump administration officials demanding \u201ca full accounting\u201d about the two boats and a third Ecuadorean fishing vessel that went down in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese incidents have resulted in eight persons still missing or unaccounted for, credible survivor accounts of arbitrary or unlawful detention, abuse, and extrajudicial use of force by U.S. personnel,\u201d wrote Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) and Bill Keating (D-Mass.).<\/p>\n

In an interview, Keating said: \u201cSomebody did this, and we\u2019re in the region, we have eyes everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the Ecuadorean fishing boats sank is unchallenged. But the question persists: What, exactly, sent them to the bottom of the ocean? <\/p>\n

\"Fishermen <\/p>\n

Fishermen return to the port of San Mateo, Ecuador, after a day at sea, on June 7. The Ecuadorean fishing community has been rocked by the disappearance of three vessels this year under mysterious circumstances. <\/p>\n

It had been a productive two weeks for La Negra Francisca Duarte II, which was returning to port with 3 tons of precious catch \u2014 mostly tuna, swordfish, marlin and shark.<\/p>\n

Shortly after noon on March 17, about 170 miles off the coast of Ecuador\u2019s Galapagos Islands, crew members said they sighted a blue boat in the distance. Probably another fishing vessel, they surmised. <\/p>\n

About an hour later, they recalled in interviews, the fishermen spotted a more sinister sight overhead: a pair of drones. <\/p>\n

What followed, the fishermen said, was an attack that sent flames and debris flying across the deck, injuring several crew members. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all dazed, our ears were ringing,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1n Flores, 51, captain of the Negra Francisca. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t even time to put on our life jackets. … Some jumped into the sea.\u201d <\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Jose <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Jordy <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> San Mateo, Ecuador – June 07, 2026: Jose Hernan Flores, former captain of the fishing vessel Negra Francisca Duarte II, poses for a portrait with his wife, Nathaly Barcia, 25, who is five months pregnant, inside their home Sunday, June 7, 2026 in San Mateo, Ecuador. Flores was among the fishermen who returned after a drone attack destroyed the boat where he worked off Ecuador\u2019s coast, leaving his family without its primary source of income. As he searches for ways to support his growing family, Flores continues facing the economic uncertainty left by the loss of the vessel, valued at nearly $400,000 and owned by his father. (Johanna Alarcon \/ For The Times) 2.<\/strong> Jordy Flores, 21, a crew member aboard the fishing vessel La Negra Francisca Duarte II, with his mother, Liliana Luca Flores, 41, in their home in San Mateo, Ecuador. He was injured during what Negra Francisca crew members say was a drone attack on the ship. <\/p>\n

One drone crashed on the boat, the captain said. He wanted to grab the downed aircraft, but feared it would explode.<\/p>\n

His nephew, Jordy Flores, 21, a crew member, suffered a deep wound that exposed bone on his right foot, the captain said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t stop screaming in pain,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The \u201cblue boat,\u201d survivors said, eventually took on board all 16 crew members, who had managed to clamber into a pair of auxiliary skiffs attached to the Negra Francisca.<\/p>\n

The officers on the blue vessel spoke English and shouted orders via interpreters. \u201cThey pointed machine guns at us and ordered us to keep our hands up,\u201d recalled Flores, the captain.<\/p>\n

The officers cuffed the survivors with plastic restraints, placed hoods on their heads and demanded that no one speak, according to the fishermen.<\/p>\n

They spent hours sprawled on the deck, broiling under the daytime sun, then chilled at night, the fishermen said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI prayed to God: \u2018Please, don\u2019t let these gringos execute us,\u2019\u201d said Gille Jimmy Toala Garc\u00eda, 55, the cook on the Negra Francisca. <\/p>\n

\"Relatives <\/p>\n

Mothers and relatives of fishermen who worked on Fiorella, which disappeared off the Ecuadorean coast on Jan. 20, hold photos of the missing crew members.<\/p>\n

A fisherman on another boat recorded cellphone images of the Negra Francisca ablaze and posted the video, spurring alarm about the fate of the boat and its crew.<\/p>\n

The next day, the fishermen said, they were turned over to a Salvadoran patrol boat and taken on an eight-day journey to El Salvador.<\/p>\n

Those were days of profound anguish for distraught families back in Ecuador, who had no idea their loved ones were safe \u2014 and steaming toward Central America. <\/p>\n

\"Gille <\/p>\n

Gulle Jimmy Toala Garc\u00eda, 55, the cook aboard the La Negra Francisca Duarte II, said he and his crew mates were detained on a boat manned by an English-speaking crew. <\/p>\n

On March 19, hundreds gathered outside the harbor master\u2019s office in Manta, the port city where the Negra Francisca was based, demanding information and an all-hands search for the 16 missing fishermen. <\/p>\n

Once in El Salvador, the crewmen of the Negra Francisca say, they were questioned and denied any involvement with drug trafficking. They eventually made contact with loved ones who raised funds for flights home, and later threw welcome parties for the back-to-life mariners. <\/p>\n

In a rare public acknowledgment of the incident, the Salvadoran navy said on March 23 on X that sailors were conducting a \u201chumanitarian operation\u201d to transfer 16 Ecuadorean shipwreck survivors to El Salvador, including two who were injured. <\/p>\n

The navy did not say how the 16 were encountered, and the Salvadoran military did not respond to requests for elaboration. <\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Angelica <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Angelica Lourdes Mero Arcentales of Jaramijo, Ecuador, created an altar dedicated to her husband, Juan Alfredo Arcentales Anchundia, and her son, Bryan Alfredo Arcentales Mero, who were aboard the Fiorella, which went missing in January. 2.<\/strong> Angelica Lourdes Mero Arcentales, 48, holds a childhood photograph of her son, Bryan Alfredo Arcentales Mero, who was 26 when he went missing aboard the Fiorella. 3.<\/strong> A candle burns on the altar created by Maria Cueva inside her home in Jaramijo in honor of her son, Jefferson Ariel Mero Cueva, 25, who worked on the Fiorella. <\/p>\n

Nine days after the Negra Francisca sank, another Ecuadorean fishing boat was trolling the fertile fishing grounds off the Galapagos. The fishermen aboard the Don Maca say they too spotted a \u201cblue boat\u201d \u2014 this time flying a U.S. flag. <\/p>\n

Drones soon appeared in the sky and, without warning, opened fire on the Don Maca, according to the crew. <\/p>\n

They also managed to clamber aboard auxiliary craft, and the blue boat took all 20 fishermen on board, crew members said. <\/p>\n

Their accounts echo those of the Negra Francisca crew: cuffing and hooding by armed English-speakers before being turned over to a Salvadoran patrol craft, which took them to El Salvador.<\/p>\n

As was the case with Negra Francisca, relatives and others \u2014 unable to enjoy the holidays of Holy Week \u2014 staged tense protests outside the harbor master\u2019s headquarters in Manta, demanding action to find yet another boat that had gone missing.<\/p>\n

\"John <\/p>\n

John Sebastian Palacios Vera, 54, was among the survivors aboard the fishing vessel Don Maca. <\/p>\n

Once in El Salvador, the crewmen of the Don Maca say they were interrogated, denied they were traffickers, and, eventually, were allowed to contact their families and leave for home. <\/p>\n

One Don Maca survivor, Sebastian Palacios Vera, 54, recalled that the captain of the Salvadoran vessel related that \u201cthe Americans\u201d told him that the crew was composed of \u201cshipwreck\u201d survivors. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a lie,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were never shipwrecked. We were attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s campaign to blow up alleged drug-smuggling boats \u2014while offering scant evidence that the vessels were ferrying narcotics \u2014 has killed at least 190 \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d so far. Critics denounce the operation as extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon list of publicly acknowledged boat strikes doesn\u2019t closely correlate with the dates or details of the sinkings of the Ecuadorean boats.<\/p>\n

\"Military <\/p>\n

Military personnel patrol Playita Mia, a landing site in Manta, Ecuador, where fishermen unload their catch. <\/p>\n

The Southern Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the region, doesn\u2019t name the vessels hit, and said it had no involvement with the Negra Francisca or Don Maca.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has also rejected any role in the sinking of a third Ecuadorean fishing vessel \u2014 the Fiorella, which disappeared on the afternoon of Jan. 20 with eight crew members on board. All remain missing. Nearby mariners reported smoke rising from where the Fiorella was last seen. <\/p>\n

On the same day that the Fiorella went down, the captain informed his father on the mainland via satellite phone that \u201cdrones and patrol boats\u201d had been following the boat, the father told United Nations investigators, who deemed the Fiorella\u2019s sinking a \u201cforced disappearance.\u201d <\/p>\n

This month, the mystifying cases of the ill-fated Ecuadorean fishing craft drew brief attention on Capitol Hill. During debate on a Pentagon funding bill, Keating sought to force the Pentagon to release unclassified videos, photographs and audio recordings of the trio of incidents. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no other country in the region engaged in this kind of egregious behavior of extrajudicial killings,\u201d said Keating, who argued that the incidents should not remain \u201cshrouded in secrecy.\u201d<\/p>\n

His amendment failed to pass. Rep. Mike Rogers, (R-Ala.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, read Pentagon disavowals of the incidents into the record and concluded: The strikes \u201cdid not occur.\u201d<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"Fishermen <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"Wendy <\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Fishermen carry fish from their boats to Playita Mia in Manta, which was the home port of two ships that sank in March. 2.<\/strong> Wendy Dayana Mero Bailon, 27, holds a photograph of her father, Jose Norberto Mero Jijije, 54, who disappeared as part of the crew aboard the Fiorella. <\/p>\n

The fishermen\u2019s allegations involve nations led by two of President Trump\u2019s favored leaders in the region \u2014 Daniel Noboa of Ecuador and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador. Both have collaborated closely with the White House security strategy. The offices of both presidents did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n

In recent years, as drug warfare has escalated, Ecuador has undergone a dark transformation: From one of Latin America\u2019s most peaceful nations to one of its most violent. Rival gangs smuggling cocaine from neighboring Colombia and Peru to North America and Europe battle for control of coastal hubs \u2014 including Manta. <\/p>\n

In response, Noboa has adopted a tough-on-crime approach and hyped his collaboration with the Trump administration in counter-narcotics on land and at sea.<\/p>\n

In May, Noboa appeared at a forum in Washington and was asked about media reports that an Ecuadorean fishing boat had been attacked and its crew taken into custody. <\/p>\n

Noboa asserted the vessel had been in international waters \u2014 an assertion that the fishermen deny \u2014 and, while not directly accusing the crew of wrongdoing, he declared: \u201cWe have hundreds, hundreds of fishermen involved in drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Carmen <\/p>\n

Carmen Rosio Bailon Moreira and Wendy Dayana Mero Bailon are the wife and daughter of Jose Nolberto Mero Quijije, who disappeared aboard the fishing vessel Fiorella. <\/p>\n

The crews of the Negra Francisca and the Don Maca scoff at any purported connection to the narco trade. None faced any charges in El Salvador or in Ecuador. Many were born and raised in coastal towns where the sea has provided sustenance for generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had been involved in anything illicit, we would have been in jail,\u201d said Palacios Vera of the Don Maca. <\/p>\n

Many remain bitter about what they call a lack of support from Ecuadorean authorities. The government didn\u2019t reimburse the fishermen for the trips back from El Salvador and didn\u2019t cover medical expenses for those injured in the attacks, the crew members said.<\/p>\n

Lawyers have vowed to pursue damage claims in Ecuadorean, U.S. and international courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider this to have been an unjustifiable and disproportionate act by forces of a foreign nation against innocent civilians,\u201d said Jorge Chiriboga, an attorney representing the Negra Francisca crew.<\/p>\n

Flores, captain of the Negra Francisca, said the vessel \u2014 valued around $400,000 \u2014 belonged to his father, 84. It was uninsured. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was our only source of work,\u201d said Flores, noting that the large boat could spend weeks at sea, netting a considerable haul.<\/p>\n

Now, he added, he and others must fish on smaller craft only capable of shorter, less profitable journeys. <\/p>\n

\"Wendy <\/p>\n

Wendy Dayana Mero Bailon holds a photograph of her father, Jose Nolberto Mero Quijije, in her home in Jaramijo.<\/p>\n

Erick Fabricio Coello Santos, 28, who suffered eye and ear injuries on the Don Maca, says he is now $10,000 in debt for medical treatments, and has lost 90% of the vision in his left eye. He can\u2019t find work to help his autistic son, who is 4.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I fall into bed, I think of all this and I don\u2019t want to live,\u201d Coello said.<\/p>\n

He is not the only survivor suffering trauma related to the very ocean that has long defined life in Manta and environs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have this deep psychological fear that something like that could happen to me again,\u201d said Toala Garc\u00eda, the cook on the Negra Francisca and a father of six. \u201cIt\u2019s horrible to live like this. I don\u2019t know if I will ever return to fishing. But, right now, I don\u2019t want to have anything to do with the sea.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

Special correspondents in Quito, Ecuador, and San Salvador contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0In March, a pair of Ecuadorean fishing boats in the Pacific burst into flames, forcing both crews…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":868931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[23],"tags":[353785,353786,7908,15709,225984,353782,110874,353784,5247,61348,8005,746,44499,8141,353781,159,353783,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-868930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bill-keating","tag-blue-vessel","tag-boat","tag-captain","tag-crew-member","tag-crew-prisoner","tag-daniel-noboa","tag-don-maca","tag-drone","tag-ecuador","tag-el-salvador","tag-environment","tag-fisherman","tag-incident","tag-negra-francisca","tag-science","tag-sunken-ecuadorean-fishing-boat","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116754309352253548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=868930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}