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Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila, 41, survived a U.S. military strike on what President Donald Trump called a 'drug-carrying submarine' in the Caribbean, one of two survivors returned to their countries as 'terrorists.' His sister, who last heard from him a year ago when he went to fish, rejects that label and describes a struggling father of six; Ecuadorian authorities say he committed no crime there, though U.S. records show a 2020 drug-smuggling conviction. As the US expands strikes on suspected traffickers—now eight since September, with at least 34 dead—Ecuador’s impoverished fishermen remain the expendable link in a critical cocaine route.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.