Fishermen in Ecuador Contend with Drug Gangs and U.S. Military Strikes

0:00Today on State of the World, fishermen in Ecuador contend with drug gangs and U. military strikes.

0:10It's State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Monday, November 17th. I'm Greg Dixon. Voters in Ecuador delivered a decisive rebuke to their young president over the weekend, voting no in a referendum that, among other measures, would have allowed the return of foreign military bases to the country.

0:38That's the sound of celebrations in Quito. The measure to bring back bases, in particular U.S. military bases, lost by a wide margin. Backers of the measure argued Ecuador needs foreign support to fight soaring violence from drug gangs who use Ecuador as a key transit hub. The Trump administration wanted the U.S. military to be able to use Ecuador to support its expanding activities in the region. The U.S. has been conducting lethal strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific on what they say are drug boats. NPR's Carrie Kahn takes us to Ecuador's Pacific coast, where she met some fishermen who are dealing with extortion and pressure from drug gangs and now risk being targeted by the U.S.

1:21military. In this small but bustling Santa Rosa port, Jose Vera has his spot on one of the lower stone steps that lead right into the light blue water.

1:38I sell every type of fish, he says. Pampano, corvina, robado. But times are tough.

1:49It's difficult to make a living at sea, he says, from warming waters, fewer fish, and rising crime. He doesn't want to get into too much detail, too many people listening.

2:04But offshore, not far from the busy market, fishermen just back from the sea have plenty to say.

2:14It's very dangerous now, says this 40-year-old fisherman, who asked us to only use his first name, Gabriel. Like many we talk to, he's afraid of violent retribution from the gangs. He says pirates, as the locals call them, extort and rob them at sea.

2:35They come at you firing into the water and grab onto your boat, he says. They take everything, our gas, our motors, which cost from$10 ,000 to$15 ,000. Another man nearby tells how pirates recently took his crew's motor, all their food and drinking water, leaving them adrift for days. Luckily, he says, they were rescued by fellow fishermen. Gabriel says he's also paying monthly extortion fees, called vacunas or vaccines. His is up to$200 a month. Despite all this, he was voting no in the referendum on U.S. military bases. He says Washington isn't interested in little guys like us. He wants Ecuador's own police to do their jobs and stop the gangs.

3:27There's no authority in the waters. or on land, he says, it's so dangerous. You go out and you never know if you're going to come back alive. With fishermen struggling, many have become easy recruits for drug traffickers. A drug run can reap thousands of dollars. Some, like those just looking for better money, have taken the risk. One local fisherman, Andres Fernando Tufino, survived a recent U.S. military strike while traveling in a semi-submersible with a Colombian national in the Caribbean. Tufino had prior trafficking ties. In 2000, he was caught after leaving Ecuador's coast in a fast boat with more than 2 ,000 pounds of cocaine, according to court documents.

4:11He was convicted and spent four years in a federal prison in California. Jeremy Warren, his defense attorney at the time, says Tufino had a large family to support and, like most recruited by traffickers, was poor and desperate. They also have, on the other hand, incredible navigational skills. I mean, they're mechanics and weathermen, navigators. It's a perfect marriage for the cartels to take advantage of their desperation and use them as transporters on the high seas. Warren, like other critics of the U.S. military strikes, says once the boats are blown up, so is a lot of evidence that could lead authorities to the leaders and profiters of the drug trade.

4:54President Trump, however, insists his campaign against drug runners is a powerful deterrent. But most fishermen we talked to hadn't heard of the U.S. strikes, like Pedro, a 65-year-old fisherman who also fears the gangs. They recently robbed him of his outboard motor. He's now struggling to pay for the replacement and make his monthly extortion payments.

5:22I pay$30 a month and can only fish close to the coastline now, he says. His son also had his outboard motor stolen by the gangs. He went into debt and fell into drug use. While in rehab, they grabbed him and forced him to make a fast boat run with 2 ,000 pounds of cocaine, says his mother. She also gave only her first name, Dolores. We're talking inside their small cinder block house not far from the port.

5:54She says her son wasn't a bad person. He made a bad decision. He was caught off the shores of the Galapagos Islands by Ecuadorian officials. Her son isn't a terrorist. She says the real terrorists are the gang leaders.

6:12They have no heart, she says. And evil is winning out. Her son was sentenced to 22 years in prison in Ecuador. The family has spent all their savings on lawyers and payments to the prison's gang to keep him safe and fed. As for Tufino, the Ecuadorian survivor of the recent U.S. military strike, after his rescue by the U.S. Navy, he was repatriated. Authorities here, however, said he hadn't committed any crimes in Ecuador, and he was released. Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Salinas, Ecuador.

6:56That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.