US sinks third alleged Los Choneros boat in a week

The US military sank another vessel it said was linked to Ecuador's Los Choneros gang, bringing to three the number of such boats it has destroyed in the Eastern Pacific in a week.

US Southern Command said Thursday's operation targeted a vessel it described as a floating refueling station supporting illicit at-sea drug trafficking. It said its intelligence had confirmed the vessel was working with Los Choneros, which it called a violent narco-terrorist organization.

SOUTHCOM said an unspecified number of people aboard were safely transferred to Ecuadorian authorities before the boat was sunk. Ecuador's Navy said it received 28 crew members from that vessel and another boat sunk on Wednesday.

The command said the sinking was part of a broader US campaign of strikes on alleged Latin American drug boats. AFP says the campaign has killed more than 200 people since last year.

In Manta, Ecuador's main fishing port, relatives waited Friday for news of people they said had been on boats targeted in the previous two days. Ginger Reyes, the wife of one vessel's captain, told AFP the families had been told the fishermen were alive and returning.

Dozens of people also protested over the disappearance of eight fishermen between January and March. Family members and Human Rights Watch blame US military personnel for those disappearances. Washington denies involvement.

Some Ecuadorian fishermen said the strikes had made them afraid to go to sea. Fausto Soza told AFP he had not gone out for two months because he feared being targeted.

President Donald Trump's administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels targeted in the Pacific and the Caribbean were involved in drug trafficking. Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg claimed the boats hit by US forces were used by drug traffickers to ship cocaine to Mexico and the United States.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa supports the US campaign and joined Trump's US-led “Shield of the Americas” anti-drug coalition in March. AFP reported that US special forces have recently been carrying out joint operations with Ecuador's military.