A series of U.S. military operations involving Ecuadorian fishing boats is causing controversy in Ecuador, with families demanding answers about their relatives and fishermen denying allegations that their vessels were connected to drug trafficking.

On September 2, U.S. forces intercepted the Ecuadorian fishing vessel Conquista 2 in the eastern Pacific, more than 240 nautical miles off the coast of Manta.

U.S. Southern Command says the vessel was operating as a floating refuelling station supporting maritime drug trafficking linked to Los Choneros, one of Ecuador’s most powerful criminal organizations.

U.S. Marines and sailors boarded and searched the vessel before removing its occupants and destroying the boat at sea. Video released by U.S. authorities shows the vessel exploding following the operation.

Families Demand Answers in Manta

Back in Ecuador, families of the fishermen gathered outside the Port Authority in Manta demanding information about their relatives.

The wife of the Conquista 2 captain said she was on a video call with her husband as U.S. forces approached and boarded the vessel. The call abruptly ended during the operation.

Families reject allegations that their relatives were involved in drug trafficking and maintain they were fishermen working at sea.

The case became even bigger Thursday when U.S. authorities confirmed another operation involving the Ecuadorian vessel OM2.

According to U.S. authorities, that boat was also being used as a floating refuelling station supporting trafficking operations linked to Los Choneros. Ecuadorian fishermen have denied those allegations and made their own accusations about how they were treated during the operation.

Three Boats in Less Than a Week

The operations are part of a much larger U.S. campaign against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

For Ecuador, however, the frequency of the latest incidents is raising questions.

Three vessels connected to Manta — Los Tres Hermanos, Conquista 2 and OM2 — have now reportedly been intercepted and destroyed by U.S. forces in less than a week.

U.S. authorities maintain that the operations are targeting maritime infrastructure used by criminal organizations and say the latest actions were carried out in cooperation with Ecuador.

The fishermen and their families tell a very different story.

As Ecuador and the United States expand their fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, the incidents are now putting a spotlight on exactly how that campaign is being carried out at sea — and what evidence authorities have linking the vessels to Los Choneros.