Amnesty International makes second request to the U.S. to investigate the bombing of fishing boats

Amnesty International has made a new request to the United States to conduct an “impartial and urgent investigation” into bombing attacks on three Ecuadorian fishing boats earlier in the year. Specifically, the human rights agency wants answers to the January bombing of the Fiorella, in which eight fishermen remain missing.

Families of missing fishermen from the Fiorella fishing vessel at a press conference two weeks ago in Manta.

The U.S. Southern Command had originally denied involvement in the bombings but changed its reaction to “no comment” two weeks ago. The Command released information that it has “sanctioned” ten fishing boats it says are involved in cocaine and gasoline shipments in the Pacific but the three boats that were attacked were not among them.

Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, said the U.S. role in the attack is increasingly difficult to deny and called for criminal accountability if there is sufficient and admissible evidence.

Amnesty International linked the case of the Fiorella to attacks on the fishing boats Negra Francisca Duarte II and Don Maca, which sailed from Manabí in March and were also attacked.

On August 13, The Washington Post and two other newspapers published articles claiming the attacks on fishing boats in Ecuadorian and international waters were part of a “U.S. covert action program that the government refuses to acknowledge or explain.” The media reports said the bombings were coordinated by the CIA out of U.S. military facilities in El Salvador.

Crew members of the three vessels that were attacked took pictures of ships and aircraft marked with U.S. insignia and survivors of the Fiorella bombing claim they were captured and temporarily detained by U.S. military personnel. Last week, the flight tracking service DropSite released data showing that a drone operated by U.S. defense contractor Shield AI was hovering over the La Negra Francisca before and after the boat was attacked.

Also last week, the Ecuadorian news site Primicias obtained a copy of the government’s report to the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances in which National Police do not rule out forced abductions in the Fiorella case. Police said their investigation faced “limitations as a result of failures of inter-institutional coordination.”

The report to the UN did not mention statements by the bombing survivors citing possible U.S. involvement.