Sixteen Ecuadorian fishermen who survived a US drone strike on their vessel are suing the US government.
The US has killed as many as 250 people in bombings of ships in the Pacific and Caribbean oceans.
The plaintiffs, two of whom suffered severe burns during the attack, argue the strikes are extrajudicial executions. The men who survived fled their burning boat on a life raft and were detained by men in US uniforms, who zip-tied their arms and placed bags over their heads before sending them to be detained in El Salvador.
Two months later, they were sent to Ecuador, where officials released the men without charges.
The Ecuadorian government has stated publicly that there was no evidence the men were transporting drugs, and that no evidence of smuggling was found on their ship.
The lawsuit seeks redress for actions the men describe as “kidnapping and torture,” referring to their time in Salvadoran prison as “manifestly illegal.”
Ecuadorian security forces reported finding no links between any of the men and cartels.
The US Navy denies any involvement in the strike. The Washington Post and the New York Times, earlier this year, revealed evidence that suggests the strike may have been carried out by a private security company at the behest of the CIA.
The bombings of fishing boats under the Trump administration have been ongoing, actions which the US government claims are carried out to combat maritime drug smuggling in the Americas.
They have never provided any evidence to the public or courts that supports their claims.
Meanwhile, drug flows from South and Central America to the United States have not decreased, according to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
That’s not surprising, considering the vast majority of cocaine arriving in North America does so in shipping containers at major US ports — a dynamic that has not changed since Trump assumed office.
