Click to expand Image A group of detained fishermen are transported on a National Police bus to the Community Surveillance Unit (UVC) from the port of Manta, Ecuador, on September 4, 2026. © 2026 ARIEL OCHOA / AFP via Getty Images (Washington, DC) – United States forces intercepted and destroyed eight Ecuadorian fishing vessels between August 28 and September 16, 2026, detaining over 140 of 160 crew members and abusing some, Human Rights Watch said today. The US and Ecuadorian governments should disclose the legal basis for these operations and promptly investigate the abuses.US military forces have alleged that the vessels were operating as floating refueling stations for drug trafficking operations linked to Los Choneros, an Ecuadorian criminal group. However, neither the US nor the Ecuadorian government has publicly disclosed compelling evidence linking individual crew members to any crime. Of the 160 crew members, 90 are facing criminal investigations in Ecuador, while Ecuadorian judges ruled that the arrest of 56 was unlawful, and 14 were not brought before a judge. Some reported being beaten, threatened in an effort to coerce them into confessing that they were trafficking fuel, and forced to sign documents could not understand. “Intercepting fuel trafficking at sea may be an important step to stop criminal groups, but that doesn’t allow security forces to arrest people without evidence, destroy their vessels, or abuse them,” said Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Ecuador and the United States should disclose the legal basis for these operations, clarify the criteria used to intercept and destroy vessels, and establish robust safeguards to prevent further abuse.”Human Rights Watch interviewed 27 people, including captains, crew members, relatives of people detained, and lawyers representing some detained crew members. Researchers also reviewed photographs and videos of the interceptions, reports by Ecuador’s Judicial Police, court proceedings, statements by US authorities, and Ecuadorian media reports. Human Rights Watch requested comments from the Ecuadorian Attorney General’s Office and the US Southern Command regarding its findings, but has not received a response.Human Rights Watch could not determine whether any of the vessels operated as illicit refueling stations. US authorities alleged that they did, while crew members interviewed denied involvement. Neither government has publicly disclosed evidence supporting the allegations, and the destruction of the vessels may have eliminated evidence that could have helped establish what happened.On August 28, US military forces intercepted Los Tres Hermanos, the first vessel. The captain and crew members said that armed US forces ordered them to lie face down and restrained them with zip ties without any explanation. They said that US forces did not inspect the vessel in their presence before taking them aboard the USS San Antonio. US forces then replaced the plastic restraints with tightly fastened metal handcuffs, they said, covered their eyes and ears, collected biometric data, and questioned some about their alleged links to organized crime. The crew members denied any such links and said they had no criminal records. After about seven hours, US forces placed them aboard the Los Tres Hermanos’ four support boats, ordered them to leave, and then destroyed the main vessel. None were detained when they reached shore. “I asked what evidence they had found, what procedure they were following, and whether I should take the boat to Jaramijó or Manta,” the captain said. “One of the US forces asked me, ‘What do you prefer, death or prison?’ I said, ‘Neither.’ He then told me not to return to the boat and ordered us to go to Manta in our support boats.”Crew members from at least four vessels said that US forces kicked and struck them while boarding their fishing vessels, although they offered no resistance. Once aboard the USS San Antonio, US forces punched or kicked them for moving or failing to follow orders, crew members said. They said the orders were in English, which they do not speak. Crew members said that US forces covered their eyes and ears and forced them to remain seated for hours without moving, denying them food, adequate water, and access to toilets. US forces did not tell them why they were being held or what would happen to them. Several said US forces, speaking through interpreters, threatened them with prison or said they would go after crew members’ families unless they admitted to supplying fuel to boats carrying drugs.“He threatened me, saying that if I did not confess that we were trafficking fuel, I would go to prison, and that if I did not cooperate, they would come after my family,” a crew member from the María Candelaria said. He said two armed US military members interrogated him through an interpreter. A member of the US forces made him sign an electronic document that he was not allowed to read. “I do not know what that document said,” he said. “We were not doing anything wrong; we were only fishing. It is very unfair.”On September 5, a judge in Manta ruled as unlawful the detention of 28 crew members—9 from the Conquista II and 19 from the OM 2—and ordered their release without charges. An official record of the hearing reviewed by Human Rights Watch shows that the judge rejected prosecutors’ request to treat the arrests as “flagrancy” for alleged unlawful association, and found they had presented no evidence that the crew members had committed a crime. On September 10, a judge on San Cristóbal Island, Galápagos, ordered the release without charge of 28 crew members, 22 from the Montecristi and 6 from the Don Rufo. Ecuadorian prosecutors have charged 90 crew members with “unlawful association,”8 from the Conquista II, 26 from the María Candelaria, 10 from the Don Rufo, 26 from the X Siempre Don Carlos, and 20 from the Karla Franccesca. They are required to report weekly to the court and the prosecutor’s office and are not allowed to leave the country.On September 28, a Manta court held a trial hearing for 8 crew members of the Conquista II and 26 of the María Candelaria. Defense lawyers told Human Rights Watch that the prosecutor presented a forensic report on some crew members’ phones, which contained only photos of them and their families, along with seafarers’ registration cards and a Judicial Police report. They also said Ecuadorian police and Navy officials acknowledged in court that US forces had provided no evidence of a crime and that Ecuadorian authorities had collected none. The court is expected to rule on October 7.Human Rights Watch reviewed two Ecuadorian Judicial Police reports concerning 74 of the detained crew members. Both reports state that the Ecuadorian Navy brought the crew members to the port of Manta as “shipwreck survivors” and handed them over to the Judicial Police there. At the direction of the prosecutor on duty, police nevertheless recorded them as having been apprehended in the act of committing a crime and detained them. The reports list only seafarers’ registration cards and some identity documents as evidence and identify no drugs, fuel, cargo, or other evidence to support allegations of fuel trafficking or “unlawful association.”International human rights law prohibits arbitrary detention and cruel and inhumane ill-treatment. The US and Ecuadorian governments should ensure that any interception and detention is lawful and promptly reviewed by a judge.“Ecuador and the United States are not going to dismantle organized crime networks by arresting fishermen in cases backed by dubious evidence,” Goebertus said.