[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 71 (Wednesday, April 22, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1930-S1931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                ECUADOR

  Mr. WELCH. Mr. President, on March 6 of this year, the Pentagon 
released a video of what it claimed was the destruction of a drug 
traffickers' training camp near the village of San Martin in the jungle 
of rural Ecuador. As reported by the New York Times, ``The video was 
meant to show that the U.S. military, which for months had bombed boats 
it says are carrying drugs from South America, was `now bombing Narco 
Terrorists on land,' '' according to a post by Defense Secretary 
Hegseth.
  A thorough, credible investigation of this operation has yet to be 
carried out. However, based on detailed inquiries by American 
journalists and Ecuadorian human rights organizations who visited the 
site and collected testimonies and audiovisual evidence, the official 
narrative turns out to bear little, if any, resemblance to the facts as 
they are currently known.
  Rather than a drug training camp, the Ecuadorian military, relying on 
U.S. military intelligence, appears to have bombed a cattle and dairy 
farm, targeting impoverished workers and terrorizing neighboring 
villagers.

[[Page S1931]]

  According to workers at the farm, Ecuadorian soldiers arrived by 
helicopter on March 3. After reportedly arresting the workers at 
gunpoint, interrogating and subjecting them to beatings, suffocation, 
electric shocks, threats of mutilation, water immersion, and mock 
executions at an undisclosed military facility before releasing them, 
they returned to the site, poured gasoline on several structures, and 
burned them to the ground. Villagers said helicopters returned 3 days 
later, apparently dropping explosives on what remained of the farm, 
which the soldiers recorded on the video that the Pentagon released.
  In addition to releasing the video, the Pentagon claimed credit for 
carrying out ``target action'' against the supposed traffickers at the 
request of the Ecuadorian authorities, although no U.S. troops were 
directly involved in the operation. Ecuadorian officials said the 
operation relied on U.S. ``intelligence and support'' to identify the 
farm, which they claimed was a camp for as many as 50 members of 
irregular armed groups.
  According to the owner of the farm, he bought it 6 years ago and had 
a herd of more than 50 cows used for milk and meat. He said the 
destroyed structures were two wooden shelters, sheds for equipment, a 
chicken coop, and a place to make cheese. He said, ``It's a lie that 50 
people trained here. Where are they going to train? Out in the open? 
There's no logic.'' He went on, ``Everywhere you look there are 
animals: the cows I milk, the calves, the horses.''
  According to an Ecuadorian human rights lawyer, ``There isn't a 
single public official who has come to verify what happened.''
  This violent operation occurred in a remote, dangerous area along the 
border between Ecuador and Colombia where armed groups are engaged in 
illicit mining and cocaine trafficking. But the version of events 
recounted by the villagers and the farm workers is totally at odds with 
the version promoted by the Ecuadorian military and the U.S. Department 
of Defense. It has been more than a month and half since the incident, 
and the Ecuadorian Government has yet to present any credible evidence 
to dispute the farm workers' harrowing account. Instead, they have 
continued to repeat their assertions and vilify the work of human 
rights organizations. The farm workers and the villagers have also 
reported acts of harassment and intimidation by the Ecuadorian military 
against them since the New York Times story came out. This is the same 
military that is accused of committing at least 43 cases of enforced 
disappearances in 2024, according to Amnesty International.
  There is no evidence that, prior to issuing a press release 
characterizing the attack as a counter ``narco-terrorist'' operation, 
anyone at the Pentagon had visited the site or spoken with any of the 
Ecuadorian inhabitants. Perhaps the Ecuadorian Government is reluctant 
to conduct a credible, thorough investigation, fearing the possibility 
of having to refute the version of its own soldiers and the U.S. 
Secretary of Defense. But its responsibility is first and foremost to 
its own citizens, to the truth, and to the law. If the facts described 
by the owner of the farm are borne out, the operation violated multiple 
laws, including arbitrary detention, denial of due process, torture, 
and the destruction of property. And if this was, in fact, an attack 
based on faulty intelligence that never should have happened, the owner 
of the farm and the workers who were abused must be compensated and 
those responsible brought to justice.

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