They went out for fish. They came back in handcuffs, accused of being narco-terrorists. Now a judge in Manta has said there is no evidence at all.

So, this is a proper mess in the Pacific, and it is unfolding right on Ecuador's most famous fishing coast.

A judge in Manta, Manabi province, has ordered the immediate release of 28 Ecuadorian fishermen who were scooped up after US forces, working with Ecuadorian authorities, intercepted and then blew up their boats — the Conquista II and the OM2 — in what Washington says was a joint anti-narcotics operation.

As reported by cbinews.tv, the court threw the case out for lack of *flagrante delicto*. In plain English, there was no legal evidence found on them to back up the drug-trafficking allegation.

The men had arrived back in Manta on Friday under Navy custody and were transferred to police facilities for a flagrancy hearing. That hearing found no criminal involvement. They were then returned under police escort to the port, where their families had been protesting that morning, demanding answers about where they were and why their boats had been destroyed.

And the fishermen are furious.

"We saw the patrol. Then a helicopter arrived, then the patrol arrived, pointing revolvers at us. They told us we were criminals, that we had weapons, but it was a lie," said Juan Carlos Pico, one of the crew. "We were loaded with fish. Yesterday we arrived at 5 pm."

Another fisherman, Eduardo Holguin, described the moment after they were taken off: "They hit us and roll us over to the other side. They seize the boat, take us to the patrol and bombard the boat. So, it is not fair that they do that."

That version is worlds apart from what SOUTHCOM — US Southern Command — is saying.

SOUTHCOM says the interdictions happened in international waters of the eastern Pacific, in coordination with Quito, and that intelligence had identified the vessels as floating refuelling stations supporting illicit trafficking for Los Choneros. The crew, they say, were "safely transferred" to Ecuador before the vessels were scuttled, with videos posted on X showing the detonations. Ecuador's Navy confirmed it received 28 crew members from the two vessels for transfer to Manta.

Why does Los Choneros matter here? Some background is crucial.

Los Choneros started out in the late 1990s as a small criminal gang in Manabi — yes, the same province as Manta — doing car theft and extortion. With backing from Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, they muscled their way into controlling key cocaine routes from Colombia through Ecuador to Mexico and the US. The US Treasury sanctioned them in 2024 as one of Ecuador's most violent organisations and a key driver of the violence that has plagued the country since 2020. In January 2024, Ecuador itself designated Los Choneros a terrorist organisation, and on 5 September 2025, the US State Department designated them a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Their longtime leader, Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar alias "Fito", was arrested in June 2025.

That history is why Manta is so sensitive. Manta is Ecuador's tuna capital — it handles around 70% of the country's tuna catch and is home to one of the world's largest fishing fleets. But Manabi is also Los Choneros' heartland. The line between a fishing boat and what the Americans call a "floating gas station" for go-fast drug boats is exactly what is now being litigated at sea.

The Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDH) stepped in and filed a habeas corpus — that age-old legal writ that protects against secret or unlawful detention — on behalf of the crew. During the hearing, the judge did two things that could make this a precedent-setting case: he ordered Ecuador's Foreign Ministry to formally seek explanations from the US Embassy, and he ordered an active search for other crew members who are still reported missing after recent high-seas operations.

CDH lawyer Fernando Bastias told local media that the institutions had initially denied anything happened on 2 September. "The Ecuadorian Navy and the Interior Ministry, in fact, denied that anything had happened on 2 September. The Ecuadorian Navy only said: 'I arrived and found the shipwreck survivors', and that is why the judge requested more information."

The 28 men are free, but this is far from over. The investigation into the high-seas sinkings remains open, families of other missing fishermen are still waiting for answers, and the question of compensation for the destroyed vessels — the livelihoods of an entire community in Manabi — has not even begun.

As cbinews.tv will continue to track, it pits two narratives against each other: a superpower's war on a cartel pipeline that moves multi-tonne cocaine loads to the US, and a coastal town that says its fishermen are being treated as criminals for doing their jobs.

#Ecuador #Manta #LosChoneros #USSOUTHCOM #Pacific #DrugTrafficking #HumanRights #Fishermen #Manabi #CBINewsTV