US Military Boards, Destroys Suspected Narco-Terrorist Refueling Boat in Pacific

U.S. forces have boarded and destroyed a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean suspected of being a refueling station for narco-terrorists’ boats, officials have said, in the latest disruption to drug trafficking from South America.

Forces with the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere (JTF-WHEM) on Wednesday stopped the floating refueling station, which was being used to support “at-sea drug trafficking operations,” U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a statement on Sept. 16.

SOUTHCOM said that intelligence had confirmed the boat’s involvement with Los Choneros. This follows a similar interception of another floating refueling station supporting an Ecuadorian gang on Sept. 15.

The command said that individuals removed from the boat were given over to Ecuadorian authorities. After the vessel was cleared, U.S. forces sank it.

“JTF-WHEM continues to conduct precise and professional operations to dismantle the logistical networks fueling narco-trafficking in the Western Hemisphere,” the statement said.

SOUTHCOM Commander Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan said that alongside Ecuadorian partners, the United States is “relentlessly pursuing narco-terrorists who prey on our citizens, undermine hemispheric security, and leave death and suffering in their wake.”

“This deliberate, lawful, and precise operation saves lives and makes our citizens—from Ecuador to the United States—safer,” Donovan said.

Last year, the U.S. State Department designated Ecuadorian gangs Los Choneros and Los Lobos as foreign terrorist organizations.

On Sept. 9, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that another Ecuador-based gang, Los Tiguerones, had been similarly designated.

Rubio said that the group was linked to narco-trafficking and numerous attacks targeting civilians, law enforcement officers, and journalists.

“The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to protect our nation by keeping illicit drugs off our streets and disrupting the revenue streams funding violent narcoterrorists,” he said, according to a State Department statement.

US Operating With Regional Partners

The Trump administration has focused on targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats from South America bound for the United States, including conducting strikes against them.

Last week, Rubio traveled to Ecuador, which he said was one of the countries in the region that has been participating most actively in tackling transnational criminal activity.

Rubio on Sept. 9 met with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, whom he referred to as “a strong partner to the Trump administration in securing [the Western] Hemisphere and countering illegal immigration.”

Ecuadorian and U.S. elite forces have been conducting joint operations to target narco-terrorists, who, Rubio said during his visit, were causing harm to the South American country, other nations in the region, and the United States.

“We do not have a better ally in the region with regards to confronting the big threat of criminal transnational organizations” than Ecuador, Rubio said.

Rubio said that he would ask Congress to approve $45 million in additional security funding for Ecuador to tackle illegal immigration and narco-trafficking.

In remarks to reporters, Rubio said that the United States is now focused on working with allies in Latin America to conduct bilateral operations against narco-trafficking boats in these cooperating countries’ territorial waters.

“It’s a strike-by-strike or operation-by-operation determination, but again, understand the difference between that and what you saw early last year is those were unilateral operations in international waters,” Rubio said.

“The important point is that these routes are being disrupted. These routes are being ended.”

He said the U.S. military will “still blow up ships if need be.”