NYT Questions 3 Ecuador Boat Attacks as US Drug War Killed 220 in 66 Strikes

2 articles · Updated · Common Dreams · Aug 13

Three Ecuadorian fishing vessels were attacked or disappeared earlier this year, and a New York Times investigation says witness accounts and flight data deepen doubts about who carried out the assaults.
Survivors from the Don Maca and Negra Francisca Duarte II said English-speaking men in matching uniforms with U.S. flag patches used drones, detained crews, and later handed them to El Salvador's navy.
Flight-data analysis showed a patrol aircraft based at an El Salvador military facility tracked the boats for days, yet the plane was not listed as a Pentagon operational aircraft and was registered to a Virginia UPS-store mailbox.
The Pentagon denied involvement, but the report says the pattern points to either a private military contractor or another force operating alongside Washington's expanding anti-drug campaign.
That campaign, Operation Southern Spear, has already killed more than 220 people in at least 66 strikes since last September, while rights groups and victims' families challenge U.S. claims that no civilians were killed.