ND: The far right in Ecuador guarantees impunity for the crimes of Yankee imperialism in the region
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by Nueva Democracia (ND) on 2nd of August.
The Pentagon, the Coast Guard, and the US Southern Command continue to deny the crimes committed against Ecuadorian fishermen, as well as any involvement in the murder of prosecutor Bravo. However, journalist Camila Lourdes states that “evidence continues to emerge that supports the fishermen’s testimonies about kidnappings, airstrikes, and torture,” which clearly implicate the US Coast Guard.
Since 2025, Yankee imperialism and its armed forces have murdered and made hundreds of fishermen disappear from countries such as Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, and Ecuador, among others. The fishermen’s families are demanding investigations, justice, and punishment for those responsible. In this context, on June 14th in Manta, Ecuador, prosecutor Alexandra Bravo, who was in charge of investigating both the US attacks on three Ecuadorian vessels and the allegations of torture and kidnapping of 36 survivors, was murdered by hitmen. Journalistic reports have been published suggesting that the murder may be directly related to ensuring total impunity for Yankee imperialism, in collusion with Ecuadorian State forces, to silence any investigation.
Background
In the final months of 2025 and throughout 2026, the US deployed naval forces to various locations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, citing the need to combat drug trafficking. According to Trump, his armed forces would forcibly prevent drugs produced in Latin America from reaching American consumers.
For months, Yankee imperialism carried out attacks against ships, claiming they were transporting drugs to the US. This resulted in hundreds of deaths in Latin American countries. Ships were bombed without evidence, in violation of human rights and laws (including Yankee law itself). Furthermore, the national sovereignty of the countries where the United States carried out these bombings disregarded with complete impunity.
In that context, anti-imperialist forces warned of the naval blockade that Yankee imperialism was imposing on Venezuela. Indeed, on January 3rd, 2026, the US bombed Caracas, launched an air raid, and kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores. Thus, under the pretext of the war on drugs, the US bombed ships in the Caribbean and the Pacific, violating the national sovereignty of several countries, murdering hundreds of people without evidence or trial, and ultimately, this entire military deployment served to carry out a vile military aggression against Venezuela.
Impunity Through Murder
Prosecutor Bravo was murdered, along with her sister, by hitmen in the city of Manta. She was investigating the cases involving three civilian fishing vessels: the Fiorella, the La Negra Francisca Duarte II, and the Don Maca. According to a report by journalist Camila Lourdes (Drop Site News), “two of the vessels’ crew members returned home and reported that they had been kidnapped, blindfolded, and deprived of food for eight days by armed US men wearing US military uniforms aboard a US-flagged patrol boat, before being abandoned in El Salvador.”
She maintains that the prosecutor had been pressured by her superiors to drop the investigation into the vessels. “She was ordered to close all lines of investigation after 36 of the 44 missing men were found—even though they arrived with severe injuries, including a 70% loss of vision and feet torn so badly that flesh and bones were exposed, which medical experts deemed consistent with their accounts of explosions and torture.” Furthermore, the prosecutor had denounced the lack of information and cooperation from other Ecuadorian State institutions involved in the case of the boats.
Days before her murder, the prosecutor was transferred by her superiors to the municipality of Montecristi and assigned to other cases, effectively forcing her to abandon the case of the three boats. The Attorney General’s Office refuses to respond to or explain the reasons for the transfer, according to a report by Drop Site News.
In addition, the police officers assigned to escort and protect Prosecutor Bravo were not present during the hit. This is suspicious, and in response, the Ecuadorian National Police has stated that it will investigate whether “errors” were made.
All the negligence on the part of the Ecuadorian State, both in carrying out the investigations and in protecting the life of the prosecutor in charge of the case, is related to the diplomatic immunity that President Noboa— a lackey of Yankee imperialism— has given to the military and personnel of the US Department of Defense, through 22 martial law decrees, which guarantee total impunity for the Yankee military forces in Ecuador.
The Pentagon, the Coast Guard, and the US Southern Command continue to deny the crimes committed against the Ecuadorian fishermen, as well as any involvement in the murder of prosecutor Bravo. However, journalist Camila Lourdes states that “evidence continues to emerge that supports the fishermen’s testimonies about the kidnappings, airstrikes, and torture,” which clearly implicate the US Coast Guard. The aforementioned report cites evidence such as videos, testimonies from other fishermen who witnessed the attacks from a distance, and even satellite images, which confirm that the armed forces of Yankee imperialism were behind the attack on the three Ecuadorian fishing boats, as well as the kidnapping and torture of the survivors.
Yankee imperialism commits all kinds of crimes against the people
Based on the aforementioned facts, it is possible to infer that the Ecuadorian State, led by the reactionary Noboa, is responsible for the murder of prosecutor Bravo, all to silence and stifle any investigation that might damage the image of the US military. This occurs within the context of increased military intervention by Yankee imperialism in all Latin American countries, whether through military aggression, as in Venezuela, or through blockades and grave threats of aggression, as in Cuba, or through support for far-right governments willing to lick the boots of the US military and obediently serve its agenda, as in the case of Ecuador, or the recently elected Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia.
Yankee imperialism continues to deploy its military forces throughout the continent as part of its new National Security Strategy, published in November of last year, committing all all kinds of crimes against the people—and even against those State officials who deviate from their plans.
