Quito, Ecuador — Quito, Ecuador (AFP) – Survivor Authorities in Ecuador have cleared a US raid on a submarine ship accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean, after prosecutors said they had no evidence a crime was committed in the South American country, a government official said Monday.
The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andres Fernando Tuvino, was in good health after medical evaluations.
An Ecuadorian government document obtained by The Associated Press said there was “no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to ascertain” any violation of existing laws by Tuvino.
The Associated Press requested comment from the attorney general’s office, but did not immediately receive a response.
The United States repatriated the man over the weekend after a US military attack on a submerged ship suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains in hospital after being repatriated to that country.
The two men were rescued by US military personnel after the submarine was destroyed on Thursday. Trump said on social media that US intelligence had confirmed that the ship was carrying “mostly fentanyl and other illicit drugs.”
There is little evidence to suggest that fentanyl is produced in the Andes, with the vast majority of it flowing into the United States via Mexico.
Trump said that two people on board the plane were killed, and the survivors were being returned to their countries “for detention and trial.”
The attack on the submarine was at least the sixth of its kind since September. The seventh attack, which occurred on Friday, was reported over the weekend, bringing the total death toll from the attacks to at least 32 people. and raising tensions in the regionEspecially between Trump, Venezuela and Colombia, which was once one of the US government’s closest allies in the Western Hemisphere.
The Colombian government said the survivor “will be tried in accordance with the law” on drug smuggling charges. She indicated that the man was seriously injured.
The Colombian government said Monday it had recalled its ambassador to the United States after anger escalated among its president. Gustavo PietroAnd Trump about the strikes.
Tensions rose on Sunday when Trump called Petro an “illegal drug lord” and “crazy” after Petro accused the US government of killing a Colombian citizen in a September 16 attack on a boat that the US said was carrying drugs.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s conservative president, Daniel Noboa, said Monday in an X message addressed to his American counterpart: “President Trump, Ecuador remains steadfast in the global fight against drug trafficking.” He added that such challenges “require unity among countries committed to peace and prosperity.”
Trump justified his actions by saying that the United States was engaged in an “armed struggle” against drug cartels.
It relied on the same legal reasoning that the George W. Bush administration used when it declared the war on terrorism after the attacks of September 11, 2001. It includes the authority to arrest and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leaders.
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Associated Press journalist Astrid Suarez in Bogotá, Colombia, contributed to this report.