U.S. Sanctions Ten Ecuadorian Fishing Vessels Over Cocaine Runs
Treasury says boats working out of the tuna hub at Manta refuel and screen go-fast smugglers in the Eastern Pacific
The U.S. Treasury has designated 15 Ecuadorian individuals and companies along with 10 fishing vessels, targeting what it describes as the maritime backbone of a cocaine pipeline running north through the Eastern Pacific.
Ecuador produces very little cocaine itself but has become the principal launch point for product grown and refined in Colombia and Peru. Two Ecuadorian groups designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organisations, Los Choneros and its splinter Los Lobos, are said to work with Mexican cartels to move the drug toward the United States. Most of the individuals named in the action are affiliated with one of the two groups.
Treasury describes the link between the Ecuadorian and Mexican ends of the chain as a fleet of large fishing vessels that present as legitimate commercial operators. Treasury said certain vessels working out of the busy tuna-fleet hub of Manta use their commercial cover to support narcotics networks, meeting go-fast boats offshore for transfers that never touch a port.
The support role goes well beyond carrying cargo. The vessels refuel go-fast boats at coordinated positions and supply them with food and medical assistance, extending the range of craft that would otherwise be limited to short coastal runs. Because they look like fishing boats and behave like fishing boats, they also serve as a detection screen, spotting law enforcement units and passing warnings back to the organisations ashore.
Some of the designated vessels are alleged to have coordinated the movement of 30 to 40 tonnes of cocaine each month from Ecuador to Central America and Mexico. From there the loads move overland, with the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion responsible for the final leg into U.S. consumer markets.
A share of the Eastern Pacific flow has traditionally been placed into containerised freight and shipped onward from Mexico or Central America to Europe, Australia and other overseas markets, though the Treasury action emphasised the northbound route into the United States.
The designations add to a list of more than 300 entities sanctioned under the current administration. For owners and charterers, the practical consequence is a further set of named hulls that compliance screening now has to catch before a fixture, a bunker stem or an insurance placement goes ahead.
