CIA Carried Out Drone Strikes, Disappearances and Torture Near Ecuador’s Coast

The U.S. strikes on several fishing boats near Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands earlier this year were part of a secret operation conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. That’s according to The Washington Post, which spoke to a source anonymously. One of the boats disappeared on January 20 along with eight of its crew members, who are presumed dead, according to the United Nations. Survivors of two other vessels that came under attack in March said they were abducted by U.S. forces, hooded, cuffed and tortured aboard a ship before being taken to El Salvador. No U.S. government agency has claimed responsibility for those strikes, which the Post reports are separate from the Trump administration’s publicly acknowledged strikes on boats off the Caribbean and Pacific. The Pentagon has provided no evidence for its claims the boats were carrying drugs. More than 200 people have been killed in the U.S. strikes since September. Meanwhile, U.S. Southern Command and Panama have concluded PANAMAX 2026, a series of war games involving at least 17 other countries from across the Americas. It was the first time joint U.S. military exercises took place in Panama since 2012. www.democracynow.org