Ecuadorian fishermen sue Trump administration over Pacific drone strike

Sixteen Ecuadorian fishermen are taking the US government to court over a military drone strike that sank their boat in the Pacific and left two of them badly burned. The lawsuit, seen by the Guardian, is set to be filed Monday in the US district court for the western district of Pennsylvania. It seeks unspecified financial compensation for the 17 March attack and for what the men describe as their subsequent kidnapping and torture.

The fishermen say they had no link to the drug trade and were illegally targeted by the crew of an unidentified US military vessel about 385 nautical miles from the port of Manta, as they headed home from a two-week fishing trip. According to the filing, two armed drones exploded on the La Negra Francesca Duarte II, setting it ablaze and destroying it. Two crew members were themselves set on fire, burned on their legs, arms and back.

The men jumped overboard into small emergency boats and rowed toward the military vessel, pursued by a surveillance drone, the suit states. They say US personnel in camouflage uniforms restrained them with zip ties and pulled plastic hoods over their heads. They were then taken to a detention center in El Salvador and imprisoned for several weeks. The boat's captain, Hernán Flores, who commanded the vessel for about 20 years, told the Guardian in June that the fire spread before anyone could reach an extinguisher, so some of the crew leapt into the water.

The lawsuit argues the attack was illegal because it was carried out without congressional authority, as were other strikes under Operation Southern Spear, the campaign announced in November 2025 to counter what the administration called narco-terrorists in the Caribbean and Pacific. It notes Ecuadorian authorities had inspected the boat themselves and found no drugs and no cartel ties among the crew. The filing also alleges the attacks, kidnapping and torture constitute torts under admiralty and maritime law, and that no armed conflict existed to justify military force against the boats.

The Washington Office on Latin America says as many as 250 people have been killed in the strikes that followed, and calls them extrajudicial executions because the government has offered no proof the victims were trafficking. A Department of Defense spokesperson said Friday that the department does not comment on pending or ongoing litigation. After details of the attack first surfaced in June, the Pentagon and US Coast Guard denied involvement, and a Southcom spokesperson said US forces operate under established legal authorities and hold their forces to the highest standards.

Attorney Dan Kovalik, who is filing the case, said the loss of the vessel left none of the plaintiffs able to work or support their families, and that the two severely burned men are still struggling. He expects the government to fight the suit in a district he said has experience in admiralty cases, and hopes it pushes Democrats, about to take control of Congress, to hold hearings on the strikes. The case joins earlier litigation: in January, families of Trinidadian fishermen Chad Joseph, 26, and Rishi Samaroo, 41, killed in a Caribbean strike three months earlier, filed a first-of-its-kind suit in Massachusetts. The ACLU is among groups demanding an end to what it calls a terrifying, lawless killing campaign at sea.