From tuna to cocaine: Manta fishermen caught in Ecuador’s drug war

In Ecuador’s port city of Manta, where generations have depended on the Pacific’s rich fishing grounds, some fishermen are being pulled into a far more lucrative and dangerous trade: cocaine trafficking, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

A single drug run can earn a fisherman between $20,000 and $40,000, compared with about $300 a month from fishing. The shift has placed fishermen at the centre of a deadly maritime drug war, while families of some fishermen insist their relatives have no connection to cocaine trafficking.

Since August 28, US forces have destroyed at least eight Ecuadorian fishing vessels originating in Manta, a city of about 300,000 people. The US military said the vessels were being used as floating refuelling stations for smaller boats transporting cocaine north.

The strikes are aimed at a maritime cocaine supply chain that, according to the Wall Street Journal, has become deeply entrenched in Manta. One fisherman told the newspaper he was paid $30,000 to transport about two tons of cocaine in 2023. After handing the drugs to another vessel near Mexico’s coast, he returned to Ecuador and used the money to build a brick house for his family.

In August, the US Treasury Department sanctioned what it described as a “narcoterrorist network” involving local fishing companies, business owners and boats allegedly helping transport thousands of pounds of cocaine each month between Manta and Mexico.

US Southern Command said crews were removed from vessels targeted in recent strikes and handed over to Ecuadorian authorities before the boats were sunk.

Since September 2025, the US military says it has killed about 230 crew members in the Caribbean and Pacific on vessels allegedly carrying drugs. But in a September report, UN special rapporteur on human rights Ben Saul described the strikes as unlawful, extrajudicial killings that could “plausibly constitute crimes against humanity.”

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa supports the US operations and has joined the Trump administration’s Shield of the Americas security alliance.

The Wall Street Journal reported that relatives of several Manta fishermen have disputed allegations against their family members. Some fishermen have said they may have been drawn into the drug trade but are merely pawns of larger criminal organisations.

Relatives recently gathered along Manta’s waterfront holding signs reading, “Justice for our fishermen.” A Manta judge this week ordered the release of 28 fishermen detained after being picked up from two vessels sunk by the US, ruling that the operation was unauthorised and had destroyed the crime scene.

Fishermen have also reported other incidents at sea. In March, two fishing crews said drones attacked their vessels near the Galápagos Islands, forcing them to abandon ship. Hernán Flores, captain of one boat, said armed English-speaking men subsequently picked up his crew before they were handed over to Salvadoran authorities.

“We were afraid they were going to kill us,” Flores said. “We are fishermen. We set out to catch fish, never imagining that this would happen.”

The US military denied involvement in the March drone attacks and the disappearance of a Manta vessel in January, saying its operations comply with US and international law.

During a visit to Ecuador this month, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was targeting drug traffickers rather than fishermen.

“Nobody is looking to kill fishermen here, but the greatest risk is that these groups will continue to operate, because they are killing people,” Rubio told reporters. “We’ll still blow up ships if need be.”

The Wall Street Journal also examined the economic pressures driving some fishermen toward trafficking. Bryan Mendoza, a sociologist at the Eloy Alfaro Lay University of Manabí in Manta, said a lack of well-paying legal jobs has made the drug trade increasingly attractive.

“It’s no longer seen as an isolated activity, but as a possible means for individual and family development,” he said. “So making a living that way can seem normal.”

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s two largest gangs, Los Choneros and Los Lobos, are fighting for control of Manta and its strategically important maritime route, according to national police.

For families of fishermen imprisoned abroad for drug smuggling, the consequences can be devastating. Carlos Carrión, who runs a group supporting such families, said hundreds of Ecuadorian fishermen are imprisoned in the US and Central America.

“If they were already poor, now they are living in absolute destitution,” said Carrión.

By Sabina Mammadli