US Army sinks third Los Choneros vessel in a week in the Pacific
Southern Command sank a resupply vessel linked to Ecuadorian cartel Los Choneros in international waters of the Eastern Pacific, the third in seven days.
Third Los Choneros vessel sunk in seven days by US forces
The United States Army destroyed a vessel on Thursday that operated as a floating resupply station for drug trafficking operations in international waters of the Eastern Pacific, according to Southern Command via its account on X. According to univision.com, it is the third vessel attributed to Ecuadorian gang Los Choneros sent to the bottom in a week, with Ecuador's support.
US intelligence confirmed that the vessel provided direct support to Los Choneros, a criminal organisation with recognised links to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel. A helicopter and a boat with military personnel boarded the vessel before it was blown up and sunk amid a large column of smoke, according to a video released by US forces.
The crew members were evacuated before the sinking and will be "transferred safely to Ecuadorian authorities," Southern Command stated without specifying how many people were on board.
The other two vessels destroyed since the previous Friday were identified as Conquista II and OM2. The Ecuadorian Navy reported that it coordinated with the United States the reception of 28 crew members from both vessels, who will be transferred to the fishing port of Manta, in the south-west of the country, one of the region's main tuna fishing centres. Other crew members continued sailing in auxiliary boats, with naval assets of Ecuador's Navy deployed to escort them to that port.
The operations are part of the campaign of aerial bombardments against vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking that the Donald Trump administration initiated a year ago in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, a campaign that has so far resulted in more than 200 deaths.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has pursued an all-out war against drug trafficking since taking office with US military support. Ecuador is part of the Shield of the Americas, an anti-drug coalition headed by Trump and made up of around twenty countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In July, the Human Rights Watch organisation denounced that three Ecuadorian vessels were allegedly attacked by US forces between January and March, with at least eight people missing. Washington rejected those accusations.
Source: Google News EC — Crime