Summary  1

US-Ecuador Military Operation on Land  2

Drone Attacks and a Missing Vessel near the Galápagos Islands  3

Methodology  6

I. Background  9

Ecuador's Security Crisis, the Government's Response, and US Cooperation  9

Violence and Organized Crime  10

The Government's Response and Human Rights Abuses  13

US-Ecuador Security and Military Cooperation  19

US Weakening of Human Rights Safeguards on Use of Force  26

II. Joint Military Operations in San Martín Community, Sucumbíos, March 1–6  29

Torture and Arbitrary Detention  30

Ecuadorian Authorities' Account  34

Destruction of Property  36

Dairy Farm Burned and Struck on March 3 and 6  37

Abandoned Wooden Houses Burned and Struck on March 1 and 3  41

Cross-Border Bomb Incident  45

US Involvement in the Events  45

III. Drone Strikes and a Missing Vessel near the Galápagos Islands, January–March  48

The Fiorella  52

La Negra Francisca Duarte II  58

The Don Maca  75

Recommendations  89

Acknowledgments  94