Ecuador releases survivor of US strike on 'drug-carrying submarine'

Ecuador has released a man who survived a US strike on a suspected drug-trafficking submarine, the attorney general's office said Monday, after finding no evidence that he had committed a crime.

The United States has deployed warships to the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela since August, attacking mostly boats that US authorities said were running drugs.

These raids have killed at least 32 people.

US authorities have repatriated the Ecuadorian man, who survived an attack last week on what US President Donald Trump said was a "very large drug-carrying submarine" headed for the United States. Another survivor was sent to his native Colombia.

The Ecuadorian attorney general's office said in a statement that there was "no report of a crime that has been brought to the attention of this institution" against the man, and therefore "he could not be detained."

The man, who has not been identified, had "no pending cases against him," it added.

According to Trump, the vessel he was on was loaded with fentanyl and other drugs. The attack killed two crew members.

Ecuador, once considered one of Latin America's safest nations, has seen a dramatic surge in violence in recent years.

Strategically located between Colombia and Peru, two of the world's largest cocaine producers, it has become a major transit hub for narcotics.

President Daniel Noboa said in a post on X on Monday that his government was determined to fight drug trafficking.