Six months on from a possible US strike against the Ecuadorian vessel
Fiorella
, Amnesty International recalls that the US policy of carrying out air strikes against boats at sea, under the pretext that they are transporting drugs to the United States, constitutes a
practice of extrajudicial executions
and other violations of human rights that must cease immediately.
On 20 January 2026, the fishing vessel
Fiorella
disappeared in international waters, having set sail from the port of Jaramijó in Ecuador seven days earlier. Since then, the whereabouts of eight of its ten crew members are unknown. The indications are that the United States may have assaulted the boat as part of its latest “Southern Spear” counter narcotics operation, in which more than 60 boats have been attacked in the region and over 200 people have been killed since September 2025.
Amnesty International’s Evidence Lab has reconstructed the route covered by the fishing vessel using VMS (vessel monitoring system) data available on the
Global Fishing Watch platform
, confirming that the
Fiorella
left the port of Jaramijó, in the province of Manabí, and sailed through Ecuadorian waters towards the Galapagos Islands, which belong to Ecuador.
Amnesty International travelled to the towns of Manta and Jaramijó, where it met with relatives of the eight disappeared fishermen – Gabriel Aladino Mero Delgado, Jefferson Ariel Mero Cueva, Bryan Alfredo Arcentales Mero, Juan Alfredo Arcentales Anchundia, Joel Steven Valencia Mero, José Norberto Mero Quijije, Juan Carlos Valencia Mero and Carlos Adrián Mendoza Macías –, who have been searching for their loved ones and demanding answers from the Ecuadorian authorities since January. In addition, the organization met with various officials and analysed statements contained in the administrative file prepared by the Manta Port Authority (which falls under the Ecuadorian Navy).
After analysing and contrasting these sources, Amnesty International was
… [more]
