1 hour ago Vanessa Buschschlüter Ecuador has released the survivor of a US strike on a submarine alleged to have been smuggling drugs in the Caribbean.
But the Ecuadorean Attorney General’s office has said in a statement that the Ecuadorean survivor “could not be detained” because there was “no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution”.
Ecuadorean officials had earlier identified one of the survivors of Thursday’s strike as Andrés Fernando Tufiño.
According to an unnamed official quoted by the Associated Press, the Ecuadorean survivor was in good health.
The Colombian survivor arrived in his homeland “with a traumatic brain injury, sedated, medicated, and breathing with the help of a ventilator”, according to Colombia’s interior minister.
An hour has passed.
V. Buschschlüter.
The survivor of a US strike on a submarine suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean has been freed by Ecuador.
After attacking the submarine the Ecuadorian and Colombian nationals were on, US military forces took them into custody. The return of these individuals to their home countries “for detention and prosecution” is what US President Donald Trump has stated.
In a statement, however, the Ecuadorean survivor “could not be detained” due to “no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution,” according to the office of the country’s lawyers general.
The US has launched a number of attacks on what it claims are drug-smuggling ships in the area.
Earlier, Ecuadorian authorities had named Andrés Fernando Tufiño as one of the strike survivors from Thursday.
He and the Colombian man, identified as Jeison Obando Pérez, 34, are the first two individuals to survive one of the strikes the United States has been conducting in the Caribbean as part of a massive counter-narcotics deployment.
Trump said the attack killed two other men on board the semi-submersible.
According to the US military, since the start of September, at least seven different strikes have killed at least 32 people.
The attacks’ legality has been questioned by experts who claim they violate international law.
The Trump administration, however, has maintained that it was focusing on “narco-terrorists”.
When reporters at the White House questioned Trump on Friday about the two survivors, he responded that they had been on “a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs.”.
Adding, “This was not an innocent group of people,”. There aren’t many submarine owners that I know, and that was an attack on a loaded submarine that was transporting drugs. “..”.
The ship had been transporting “mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics,” according to a post made by the US president on his Truth Social account.
Mexico is the main source of fentanyl entering the United States, according to drug trafficking experts, rather than nations that border the southern Caribbean, where the US deployment is occurring.
As part of the operation, dozens of military ships and planes have been sent to the Caribbean, along with about 10,000 US troops.
Additionally, Trump shared a 30-second video that showed the semi-submersible in rough seas prior to being struck by at least one projectile.
After being rescued by a US military helicopter, the two men were transported to a US warship in the Caribbean and subsequently returned home.
An unidentified official who was cited by the Associated Press said the Ecuadorian survivor was doing well.
A document from the Ecuadorean government that AP also reported seeing stated that “there is no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to be certain” that Tufiño had broken any laws currently in effect in Ecuador.
“With a traumatic brain injury, sedated, medicated, and breathing with the help of a ventilator,” declared Colombia’s interior minister, the Colombian survivor arrived in his native country.
According to local media, he is receiving medical attention in a hospital located in the capital, Bogotá.
According to Minister Armando Benedetti, the man had been on “a vessel full of cocaine, and that in our country is a crime.”.
According to US officials, the US deployment in the Caribbean has primarily targeted vessels departing Venezuela.
Trump has charged Nicolás Maduro, his Venezuelan counterpart, with being the head of the Cartel of the Suns, a drug trafficking organization.
Maduro has refuted the accusations and stated that the intentions of the operations are to remove him from office.
The Venezuelan leader has made a direct appeal to Trump, claiming that he wants “peace,” despite the fact that the US and many other countries have not recognized his reelection from last year.
Trump confirmed last week that the US government had approved the CIA’s covert operations in Venezuela, indicating that the US government has been putting more pressure on Maduro.
According to US officials, prior attacks on “narco-boats” were directed at the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang.
However, concerns regarding the identities of those on board have been growing as more boats are struck.
According to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, the US attacked a single ship in “Colombian territorial waters” in September, calling the attack “murder.”.
Trump responded by labeling Petro “an illegal drug leader” who had “strongly encouraged the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia.”.
Additionally, he threatened to impose tariffs on Colombian goods and declared that the United States would no longer provide aid to Colombia.
The government of the twin island nation has also been under pressure from the media in Trinidad and Tobago to look into claims that two of its citizens were killed in one of the strikes.
On Tuesday, however, the government of Trinidad and Tobago declared its “strong support for the ongoing military intervention of the United States of America in the region.”.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the ultimate goal of these operations against human trafficking, narco trafficking, and other transnational crimes is to make the area a real “Zone of Peace” where all residents can actually live and work in safety.
BBC News Mundo did more reporting.
