At the end of January, a fishing vessel flying the Ecuadorian flag, the Fiorella, disappeared from radar while it was in the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of kilometers from the coast. Of its ten crew members, eight remain missing. They were likely killed or taken prisoner in the course of the operation “South Lance,” which aims to combat drug trafficking between South America and the United States. According to the two sailors who managed to return to Ecuador, a column of smoke rose in the direction of the Fiorella before contact was lost.
Similar testimonies described “gringos” equipped with drones operating from an unidentified ship bearing American insignia.
- Since the launch of the operation “South Lance” in September, at least 66 strikes have been carried out against ships suspected of involvement in drug trafficking, resulting in at least 221 deaths.
- Because of the vast extent of the area covered – several million square kilometers, from the Caribbean to the Pacific – substantial resources have been deployed, including about 15,000 personnel, air-sea groups, bombers and amphibious assault ships.
- In January, CSIS estimated the cost of the operation at $31 million per day.
According to the lawyer for one of the fishermen targeted by the operation, while some strikes – notably in the Caribbean – involve modern fighter jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones, the operations against Ecuadorian fishing vessels were carried out with unsophisticated drones, launched from ships whose crews are not clearly identified. Their uniforms show no signs linking them to a specific army unit.
- Analysis of communications between one of the aircraft that overflew the fishing boat before the attack and the air controllers indicates that the pilots, who had taken off from El Salvador, spoke English with an American accent.
- The plane does not belong to the Pentagon, but is registered under the name of a company based in a UPS facility in Richmond, Virginia. This practice could be used to conceal the operator’s identity.
The hypothesis of Trump resorting to pirates is made credible by the administration’s support for Blackwater, a mercenary company founded by Erik Prince, the brother of Betsy DeVos, the former secretary of Education under the American president.
- Blackwater, which notably operated in Iraq and Afghanistan, signed in March 2025 a “strategic alliance” with the Ecuadorian government. The country’s president, Daniel Noboa, is one of Trump’s closest allies in the region.
- In August 2024, Prince also traveled to El Salvador, where he met President Nayib Bukele, who is also very close to Trump.
- He is also said to have begun discussions with the Haitian government that led to the signing of a contract at the beginning of 2025 to combat gangs.
Blackwater, although a close partner of the administration – in 2020, Trump pardoned the mercenaries involved in the Nisour Square massacre in Iraq – may not be the sole actor operating off the coast of Latin America. In recent months, the Republican administration has contemplated issuing letters of marque to authorize American citizens to track down and destroy vessels at sea.
The Pentagon refuses to confirm or deny whether such documents have indeed been issued.
- In December, Republican Senator Mike Lee introduced a bill aimed at authorizing Trump to “issue letters of marque and reprisal in case of acts of aggression committed against the United States by a cartel member, by a member of a cartel-related organization or by any accomplice associated with a cartel, and for other purposes.”
- In a statement, Lee asserted: “In modern times, cartels have replaced pirates, but we can still allow American citizens and their businesses to play a role in the fight against these murderous foreign criminals.”
- The Constitution grants Congress the right to “declare war, issue letters of marque and reprisal, and establish rules relating to captures on land and sea.” The text, which had a parallel version introduced in the House of Representatives in February 2025, never received a vote.