The United States Army communicated this Wednesday the death of three individuals whom it described as "narcoterrorists" following the attack on a speedboat that, it claimed, was operating on "established drug trafficking routes" in Caribbean waters.
"Under the direction of the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the Joint Task Force of the Western Hemisphere has carried out a lethal kinetic attack against a high-speed vessel operating along established drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean," the military authority noted in a message on social media.
Subsequently, the U.S. Armed Forces indicated that, based on intelligence data, the "active" involvement of the vessel "in drug trafficking" has been "confirmed."
As a direct consequence of this operation, according to the military report, three people have died, with no casualties reported among the Army personnel who participated in the operation so far.
This intervention takes place in a context in which the U.S. Armed Forces have reported the interception and subsequent sinking —since late August— of at least six Ecuadorian vessels in the Pacific Ocean, which they have linked to the criminal organization Los Choneros, considered the largest gang in Ecuador.