Ecuador says it has no evidence that survivor of a US strike in the Caribbean committed any crime
Associated Press
Mon, October 20, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 09: U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on October 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke on the Israel and Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal saying the hostages may be released next week. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)More
QUITO (AP) — The survivor of a U.S. strike on a submersible vessel accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean was released by authorities in Ecuador after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation, a government official said Monday.
The official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations.
A document from the Ecuadorian government obtained by AP said “there is no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to be certain” of any violation of current laws by Tufiño.
AP requested comment from the Attorney General’s Office, but did not immediately receive a response.
The man was repatriated by the United States over the weekend following a U.S. military attack on a submersible vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to that country.
U.S. military personnel rescued both men after destroying the submersible on Thursday. Trump said on social media that U.S. intelligence confirmed the vessel was carrying “mostly fentanyl and other illegal drugs.”
There is little evidence to indicate that fentanyl is produced in the Andes, as the vast majority of it flows into the U.S. through Mexico.
Trump said that two people on board were killed, and the two survivors were being repatriated to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
The attack on the submersible was at least the sixth of its kind since September. A seventh that occurred Friday, was reported over the weekend, bringing the total deaths from the attacks to at least 32. The strikes have set off tensions in the region, particularly between Trump, Venezuela and Colombia, once one of the American government’s tightest allies in the Western Hemisphere.
The Colombian government said its survivor “will be prosecuted according to the law” for alleged drug trafficking. It noted that the man was seriously wounded.
Colombia’s government said Monday that it had recalled its ambassador to the United States following an increasingly angry back-and-forth between its president, Gustavo Petro, and Trump over the strikes.
Tensions increased Sunday when Trump called Petro “an illegal drug leader” and “a lunatic” after Petro accused the U.S. government of killing a Colombian citizen in a Sept. 16 strike on a boat the U.S. said was allegedly carrying drugs.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s conservative president, Daniel Noboa, said Monday in a message on X addressed to his U.S. counterpart: “President Trump, Ecuador remains firm in the global fight against drug trafficking.” He added that such challenges “require unity among nations committed to peace and prosperity.”
Trump has justified the actions, saying the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels.
He has relied on the same legal reasoning used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It includes the authority to capture and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leaders.
___
Associated Press journalist Astrid Suárez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.
Ecuador releases survivor of U.S. strike on alleged "narco sub"
CBSNews
Tue, October 21, 2025
Ecuador releases survivor of U.S. strike on alleged "narco sub"
Ecuador has released a man who survived a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-trafficking submersible vessel, the attorney general's office said Monday, adding that the authorities had found no evidence that he had committed a crime.
A government official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations.
A U.S. Navy helicopter transported the survivors of the attack from the semi-submersible to a Navy ship, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News on Friday. The attack also killed two crew members.
U.S. authorities repatriated the Ecuadorian man, and the Ecuadorian attorney general's office said in a statement there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution" against him, and therefore "he could not be detained." The man had "no pending cases against him," it added.
A Colombian citizen also survived and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to Colombia, where Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said he "arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator." Authorities there said he would face prosecution.
The United States has deployed warships to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela since August, attacking mostly boats that U.S authorities said were running drugs. The raids have killed at least 32 people and drawn angry reactions from some South American leaders.
President Trump said the attack last week was on a "very large drug-carrying submarine" headed for the U.S. He labeled the men on board "terrorists."
In a social media post, Mr. Trump claimed the submarine was loaded with fentanyl and other drugs. There is little evidence to indicate that fentanyl is produced in the Andes region, which includes Ecuador, as the vast majority of it flows into the U.S. through Mexico.
The Pentagon posted a short video of the strike on social media. The Department of Defense Rapid Response provided no other details about the attack.
Semisubmersibles, also known as "narco subs," cannot go fully underwater. But international drug traffickers have increasingly been using the vessels as they can sometimes elude detection by law enforcement.
Asked why the two survivors were not taken to the U.S. to be prosecuted, Vice President JD Vance told reporters that "so long as they're not bringing poison into our country," he doesn't "really care" what happens to them.
Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X on Monday, tagging Mr. Trump's account, that his government was determined to fight drug trafficking.
"Ecuador stands firm in the global fight against drug trafficking and illegal mining, challenges that demand unity among nations committed to peace and prosperity," Noboa said.
Ecuador, once considered one of Latin America's safest nations, has seen a dramatic surge in violence in recent years.
Strategically located between Colombia and Peru, two of the world's largest cocaine producers, it has become a major transit hub for narcotics.
Some regional leaders, like Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, have harshly criticized the U.S. attacks.
In a post on X, Petro said the U.S. operation was part of a "failed strategy" to "control Latin America ... and obtain cheap oil from Venezuela."
Petro accused the U.S. of hitting a fishing vessel in one of its strikes. Mr. Trump later called Petro an "illegal drug leader" and threatened to cut off U.S. aid to the South American country.
Last month, Washington announced it had decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs. Colombia hit back by halting arms purchases from the United States, its biggest military partner.
Ecuador releases survivor of US strike on 'drug sub' in Caribbean
Vanessa Buschschlüter
A screengrab of the video shared by US President Donald Trump showing the submarine in open waters before it was struck [@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social]
Ecuador has released the survivor of a US strike on a submarine alleged to have been smuggling drugs in the Caribbean.
US military forces captured the Ecuadorean national along with a Colombian citizen after they attacked the submarine the two were on. US President Donald Trump said they would be returned to their countries of origin "for detention and prosecution".
But the Ecuadorean Attorney General's office has said in a statement that the Ecuadorean survivor "could not be detained" because there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution".
The US has conducted a series of strikes on what it describes as drug-smuggling vessels in the region.
Ecuadorean officials had earlier identified one of the survivors of Thursday's strike as Andrés Fernando Tufiño.
He and the Colombian man, who has been named as 34-year-old Jeison Obando Pérez, are the first two people to survive one of the strikes the US has been carrying out in the Caribbean as part of a massive counter-narcotics deployment.
Two other men aboard the semi-submersible were killed in the attack, according to Trump.
The US military has said that at least 32 people have been killed in at least seven separate strikes carried out since the beginning of September.
Experts have questioned the legality of the attacks, arguing they breach international law.
But the Trump administration has insisted that it was targeting "narco-terrorists".
US announces attack on Colombia rebel group boat as Trump ends aid
Asked about the two survivors by reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said that they had been aboard "a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs".
"This was not an innocent group of people," he added. "I don't know too many people who have submarines, and that was an attack on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine."
The US president alleged in a post on his Truth Social account that the vessel had been carrying "mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics".
Experts on drug trafficking have pointed out that fentanyl enters the US predominantly from Mexico and not from countries bordering the southern Caribbean, where the US deployment is taking place.
Around 10,000 US troops, as well as dozens of military aircraft and ships, have been deployed to the Caribbean as part of the operation.
Trump also posted a 30-second video showing the semi-submersible in choppy waters before it was hit by at least one projectile.
The two men were rescued by a US military helicopter and then taken onto a US warship in the Caribbean, before being repatriated.
According to an unnamed official quoted by the Associated Press, the Ecuadorean survivor was in good health.
AP also reported that it had seen a document from the Ecuadorean government which outlined that "there is no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to be certain" that Tufiño had violated any current laws in Ecuadorean territory.
The Colombian survivor arrived in his homeland "with a traumatic brain injury, sedated, medicated, and breathing with the help of a ventilator", according to Colombia's interior minister.
He is being treated in a hospital in the capital, Bogotá, local media reports.
The minister, Armando Benedetti, said that the man had been on "a vessel full of cocaine, and that in our country is a crime".
The US deployment in the Caribbean has mainly been targeting vessels leaving Venezuela, according to US officials.
Trump has accused his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, of leading a drug-trafficking group called the Cartel of the Suns.
Maduro has denied the allegations and says the aim of the operations is to topple him from power.
The Venezuelan leader, whose re-election last year has not been recognised by the US and many other nations, has appealed directly to Trump, saying he wants "peace".
But the US government has been increasing its pressure on Maduro, with Trump confirming last week that the had given to go-ahead for the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
US officials have said that previous strikes on "narco-boats" targeted the Tren de Aragua gang, which has its base in Venezuela.
But as more boats are hit, questions about the identities of those aboard have been mounting.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the US of attacking one vessel in "Colombian territorial waters" in September, saying the strike constituted "murder".
In response, Trump called Petro "an illegal drug leader" who had "strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia".
He also said that the US would no longer offer aid to Colombia and threatened to impose tariffs on Colombian goods.
Media in Trinidad and Tobago have also pressured the twin island nation's government to investigate reports that two of their nationals were killed in one of the strikes.
However, Trinidad and Tobago's government on Tuesday expressed its "strong support for the ongoing military intervention of the United States of America in the region".
"These operations aimed at combatting narco and human trafficking and other forms of transnational crime are ultimately aimed at allowing the region to be a true 'Zone of Peace' where all citizens can, in reality, live and work in a safe environment," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Associated Press
Mon, October 20, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 09: U.S. President Donald Trump, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on October 09, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke on the Israel and Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal saying the hostages may be released next week. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)More
QUITO (AP) — The survivor of a U.S. strike on a submersible vessel accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean was released by authorities in Ecuador after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation, a government official said Monday.
The official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations.
A document from the Ecuadorian government obtained by AP said “there is no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to be certain” of any violation of current laws by Tufiño.
AP requested comment from the Attorney General’s Office, but did not immediately receive a response.
The man was repatriated by the United States over the weekend following a U.S. military attack on a submersible vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to that country.
U.S. military personnel rescued both men after destroying the submersible on Thursday. Trump said on social media that U.S. intelligence confirmed the vessel was carrying “mostly fentanyl and other illegal drugs.”
There is little evidence to indicate that fentanyl is produced in the Andes, as the vast majority of it flows into the U.S. through Mexico.
Trump said that two people on board were killed, and the two survivors were being repatriated to their home countries “for detention and prosecution.”
The attack on the submersible was at least the sixth of its kind since September. A seventh that occurred Friday, was reported over the weekend, bringing the total deaths from the attacks to at least 32. The strikes have set off tensions in the region, particularly between Trump, Venezuela and Colombia, once one of the American government’s tightest allies in the Western Hemisphere.
The Colombian government said its survivor “will be prosecuted according to the law” for alleged drug trafficking. It noted that the man was seriously wounded.
Colombia’s government said Monday that it had recalled its ambassador to the United States following an increasingly angry back-and-forth between its president, Gustavo Petro, and Trump over the strikes.
Tensions increased Sunday when Trump called Petro “an illegal drug leader” and “a lunatic” after Petro accused the U.S. government of killing a Colombian citizen in a Sept. 16 strike on a boat the U.S. said was allegedly carrying drugs.
Meanwhile, Ecuador’s conservative president, Daniel Noboa, said Monday in a message on X addressed to his U.S. counterpart: “President Trump, Ecuador remains firm in the global fight against drug trafficking.” He added that such challenges “require unity among nations committed to peace and prosperity.”
Trump has justified the actions, saying the United States is engaged in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels.
He has relied on the same legal reasoning used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It includes the authority to capture and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leaders.
___
Associated Press journalist Astrid Suárez in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.
Ecuador releases survivor of U.S. strike on alleged "narco sub"
CBSNews
Tue, October 21, 2025
Ecuador releases survivor of U.S. strike on alleged "narco sub"
Ecuador has released a man who survived a U.S. strike on a suspected drug-trafficking submersible vessel, the attorney general's office said Monday, adding that the authorities had found no evidence that he had committed a crime.
A government official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations.
A U.S. Navy helicopter transported the survivors of the attack from the semi-submersible to a Navy ship, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News on Friday. The attack also killed two crew members.
U.S. authorities repatriated the Ecuadorian man, and the Ecuadorian attorney general's office said in a statement there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution" against him, and therefore "he could not be detained." The man had "no pending cases against him," it added.
A Colombian citizen also survived and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to Colombia, where Interior Minister Armando Benedetti said he "arrived with brain trauma, sedated, drugged, breathing with a ventilator." Authorities there said he would face prosecution.
The United States has deployed warships to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela since August, attacking mostly boats that U.S authorities said were running drugs. The raids have killed at least 32 people and drawn angry reactions from some South American leaders.
President Trump said the attack last week was on a "very large drug-carrying submarine" headed for the U.S. He labeled the men on board "terrorists."
In a social media post, Mr. Trump claimed the submarine was loaded with fentanyl and other drugs. There is little evidence to indicate that fentanyl is produced in the Andes region, which includes Ecuador, as the vast majority of it flows into the U.S. through Mexico.
The Pentagon posted a short video of the strike on social media. The Department of Defense Rapid Response provided no other details about the attack.
Semisubmersibles, also known as "narco subs," cannot go fully underwater. But international drug traffickers have increasingly been using the vessels as they can sometimes elude detection by law enforcement.
Asked why the two survivors were not taken to the U.S. to be prosecuted, Vice President JD Vance told reporters that "so long as they're not bringing poison into our country," he doesn't "really care" what happens to them.
Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X on Monday, tagging Mr. Trump's account, that his government was determined to fight drug trafficking.
"Ecuador stands firm in the global fight against drug trafficking and illegal mining, challenges that demand unity among nations committed to peace and prosperity," Noboa said.
Ecuador, once considered one of Latin America's safest nations, has seen a dramatic surge in violence in recent years.
Strategically located between Colombia and Peru, two of the world's largest cocaine producers, it has become a major transit hub for narcotics.
Some regional leaders, like Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, have harshly criticized the U.S. attacks.
In a post on X, Petro said the U.S. operation was part of a "failed strategy" to "control Latin America ... and obtain cheap oil from Venezuela."
Petro accused the U.S. of hitting a fishing vessel in one of its strikes. Mr. Trump later called Petro an "illegal drug leader" and threatened to cut off U.S. aid to the South American country.
Last month, Washington announced it had decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs. Colombia hit back by halting arms purchases from the United States, its biggest military partner.
Ecuador releases survivor of US strike on 'drug sub' in Caribbean
Vanessa Buschschlüter
BBC
Tue, October 21, 2025
Tue, October 21, 2025
A screengrab of the video shared by US President Donald Trump showing the submarine in open waters before it was struck [@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social]
Ecuador has released the survivor of a US strike on a submarine alleged to have been smuggling drugs in the Caribbean.
US military forces captured the Ecuadorean national along with a Colombian citizen after they attacked the submarine the two were on. US President Donald Trump said they would be returned to their countries of origin "for detention and prosecution".
But the Ecuadorean Attorney General's office has said in a statement that the Ecuadorean survivor "could not be detained" because there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution".
The US has conducted a series of strikes on what it describes as drug-smuggling vessels in the region.
Ecuadorean officials had earlier identified one of the survivors of Thursday's strike as Andrés Fernando Tufiño.
He and the Colombian man, who has been named as 34-year-old Jeison Obando Pérez, are the first two people to survive one of the strikes the US has been carrying out in the Caribbean as part of a massive counter-narcotics deployment.
Two other men aboard the semi-submersible were killed in the attack, according to Trump.
The US military has said that at least 32 people have been killed in at least seven separate strikes carried out since the beginning of September.
Experts have questioned the legality of the attacks, arguing they breach international law.
But the Trump administration has insisted that it was targeting "narco-terrorists".
US announces attack on Colombia rebel group boat as Trump ends aid
Asked about the two survivors by reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said that they had been aboard "a drug-carrying submarine built specifically for the transportation of massive amounts of drugs".
"This was not an innocent group of people," he added. "I don't know too many people who have submarines, and that was an attack on a drug-carrying, loaded submarine."
The US president alleged in a post on his Truth Social account that the vessel had been carrying "mostly fentanyl, and other illegal narcotics".
Experts on drug trafficking have pointed out that fentanyl enters the US predominantly from Mexico and not from countries bordering the southern Caribbean, where the US deployment is taking place.
Around 10,000 US troops, as well as dozens of military aircraft and ships, have been deployed to the Caribbean as part of the operation.
Trump also posted a 30-second video showing the semi-submersible in choppy waters before it was hit by at least one projectile.
The two men were rescued by a US military helicopter and then taken onto a US warship in the Caribbean, before being repatriated.
According to an unnamed official quoted by the Associated Press, the Ecuadorean survivor was in good health.
AP also reported that it had seen a document from the Ecuadorean government which outlined that "there is no evidence or indication that could lead prosecutors or judicial authorities to be certain" that Tufiño had violated any current laws in Ecuadorean territory.
The Colombian survivor arrived in his homeland "with a traumatic brain injury, sedated, medicated, and breathing with the help of a ventilator", according to Colombia's interior minister.
He is being treated in a hospital in the capital, Bogotá, local media reports.
The minister, Armando Benedetti, said that the man had been on "a vessel full of cocaine, and that in our country is a crime".
The US deployment in the Caribbean has mainly been targeting vessels leaving Venezuela, according to US officials.
Trump has accused his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, of leading a drug-trafficking group called the Cartel of the Suns.
Maduro has denied the allegations and says the aim of the operations is to topple him from power.
The Venezuelan leader, whose re-election last year has not been recognised by the US and many other nations, has appealed directly to Trump, saying he wants "peace".
But the US government has been increasing its pressure on Maduro, with Trump confirming last week that the had given to go-ahead for the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.
US officials have said that previous strikes on "narco-boats" targeted the Tren de Aragua gang, which has its base in Venezuela.
But as more boats are hit, questions about the identities of those aboard have been mounting.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the US of attacking one vessel in "Colombian territorial waters" in September, saying the strike constituted "murder".
In response, Trump called Petro "an illegal drug leader" who had "strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia".
He also said that the US would no longer offer aid to Colombia and threatened to impose tariffs on Colombian goods.
Media in Trinidad and Tobago have also pressured the twin island nation's government to investigate reports that two of their nationals were killed in one of the strikes.
However, Trinidad and Tobago's government on Tuesday expressed its "strong support for the ongoing military intervention of the United States of America in the region".
"These operations aimed at combatting narco and human trafficking and other forms of transnational crime are ultimately aimed at allowing the region to be a true 'Zone of Peace' where all citizens can, in reality, live and work in a safe environment," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
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