WASHINGTON — A series of unexplained attacks on Ecuadorian fishing boats near the Galapagos Islands earlier this year were part of a covert Central Intelligence Agency operation, The Washington Post reported Thursday, citing a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Post reported that the agency was involved in surveillance flights tied to strikes on three vessels in January and March, and that the operation was separate from the boat strikes the Trump administration has publicly acknowledged in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
One of the vessels, the Fiorella, vanished Jan. 20 with eight crew members aboard. The United Nations presumes the men dead. Crew members had reported seeing drones overhead and a ship bearing U.S. markings in the days before the boat disappeared, according to the Post's account.
Thirty-six men aboard two other boats struck in March survived. They have said armed men seized them at gunpoint after the attacks, hooded and handcuffed them, tortured them aboard a vessel and flew them to El Salvador before returning them to Ecuador without explanation.
No U.S. agency has claimed responsibility for the strikes, the Post reported. The Pentagon has not produced evidence supporting its assertion that the targeted boats were carrying narcotics.
The reporting adds to scrutiny of a broader campaign of maritime strikes. Democracy Now reported that attacks across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 221 people since September, with the administration providing no public evidence tying the vessels or their passengers to trafficking.
An Ecuadorian prosecutor who was investigating three of the boat strikes, Alexandra Bravo, was shot and killed by a gunman in the city of Manta on June 14.