Survivors of the Don Maca
Ecuadorian fishers aboard the Don Maca survived a US drone strike on their vessel during routine fishing operations; no evidence has been produced linking them or their boat to drug trafficking.
#civilian harm #state violence
The crew of the Ecuadorian fishing vessel Don Maca were finishing a day of swordfish and albacore lines when a drone strike tore through the boat, shattering glass and injuring several. The crew were subsequently detained by US forces and questioned. The United States has produced no evidence connecting the crew or the vessel to drug trafficking.
The strike is part of what the second Trump administration has framed as a “war on narcoterrorists” — a phrase that operates as a label rather than a definition, and one the administration has not been required to substantiate before each operation. Legal experts and human rights organizations have characterized the resulting attacks, which have killed Ecuadorian, Venezuelan, and Colombian civilians at sea, as extrajudicial killings.
The Don Maca was not the first such vessel attacked, nor has the United States said how many crews remain unaccounted for from prior strikes. The survivors’ testimony exists because this strike did not finish them.