US Touted Narco Raid That Actually Destroyed a Farm

A recent U.S.-backed military strike in Ecuador, promoted as a blow against “Narco Terrorists on land,” may have actually destroyed a small dairy farm instead of a cartel camp, according to a New York Times investigation. The operation, which took place earlier this month near San Martín, was highlighted by the Pentagon and Ecuadorian authorities as a coordinated attack on a drug traffickers’ training site linked to a Colombian armed group.

The Times’ reporting, based on visits to the location and interviews with the farm’s owner, employees, local residents, and human rights lawyers, found that the site was a 350-acre cattle and dairy farm. The owner insists he has no connection to drug trafficking, calling the strike “an outrage” and “illogical.”

Witnesses said Ecuadorian soldiers arrived by helicopter several days before the bombing, detaining and allegedly torturing farm workers. Accounts include beatings, choking, electric shocks, and being submerged headfirst in barrels of water. The soldiers reportedly destroyed farm buildings before the aerial attack was carried out on the ruins, creating footage later publicized by U.S. and Ecuadorian officials.

While U.S. officials now acknowledge that American forces did not conduct the bombing directly, they provided intelligence and other support. Human rights advocates and local residents are condemning the strike as an attack on civilians and raising concerns that officials may have misrepresented the target to justify a more aggressive anti-drug effort.

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