It was a sunny afternoon in San Martin, Ecuador, on March 26 when Miguel, a 32-year-old Ecuadoran carpenter, gave a USA TODAY reporter a remote tour, via WhatsApp video call, ofhis farm in the Amazon. The tour came in response to the Ecuadoran defense ministry's March 25 statement that his property wasn't a dairy farm, as had been reported, but adrug trafficking hideout, based on United States intelligence.
Nearly three weeks earlier, the Ecuadoran military bombed Miguel's farm in ajoint military operationwith the United States.
Ecuador's defense ministry said it cooperated with the United States to validate intelligence information on the site in northeastern Ecuador, forOperation Total Exterminationin early March. Miguel's property could not be a dairy farm, a ministry statement said, as "there was no presence of livestock or productive activity of that type."
Farmer Vicente Garrido checks the damage caused by a bomb dropped by the Ecuadorian army in the Lago Agrio region, Sucumbios province, on the border between Colombia and Ecuador, on March 18, 2025. A joint American and Ecuadoran military operation bombed farms and homes in an Amazon village in Ecuador,
according to residents and their lawyers. Ecuadoran officials said the operation, conducted with U.S. intelligence, destroyed a hideout for a Colombian drug trafficking group." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Farmer Gilson Vargas checks damages after a bomb dropped by the Ecuadorian army in the Lago Agrio region, Sucumbios province, on the border between Colombia and Ecuador, on March 18, 2025. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Military bombing in Ecuador shatters Amazon farming village
Farmer Vicente Garrido checks the damage caused by a bomb dropped by the Ecuadorian army in the Lago Agrio region, Sucumbios province, on the border between Colombia and Ecuador, on March 18, 2025. A joint American and Ecuadoran military operation bombed farms and homes in an Amazon village in Ecuador,according to residents and their lawyers. Ecuadoran officials said the operation, conducted with U.S. intelligence, destroyed a hideout for a Colombian drug trafficking group.
Officials have said the farm was actually a hideout for the leader of a Colombian drug trafficking group, and also a training site with capacity for 50 drug traffickers. The U.S. Department of Defense, now known as the Department of War, has recently said the United States and Ecuador conducted the operation "jointly."
Miguel, who has asked USA TODAY not to publish his last name because he fears retaliation from security forces, denies having any ties to criminal groups. In a video call, he said he's confused how officials couldn't see his livestock on his land in San Martin, a village of 27 families.
Miguel said he currently has 37 heads of cattle, including three calves, one of which is five days old and being treated for worms on its skin − on a farm spanning 345 acres, approximately 222 of which are pasture. He also has sows, as well as ducks and geese, which have appeared ininternational news photosrummaging through the remains of his razed property.
Ministry disputes New York Times reporting
In itsMarch 25 statement, Ecuador's defense ministry disputedThe New York Times' reportingabout bombing Miguel's dairy farm that was published the same day asUSA TODAY's independently reportedaccount. USA TODAY interviewed Miguel, a village official and lawyers from theAlliance for Human Rights, a coalition of Ecuadoran advocacy organizations, who are representing San Martin residents.
"The Ministry of National Defense rejects any assertion that distorts facts," the ministry statement said. "The Armed Forces will continue acting strongly against transnational organized crime, in defense of the country and Ecuadoran families."
Ecuador's defense ministry didn't respond to email requests for comment.
The ministry said armed forces scouted and secured the area to avoid collateral damage. The defense ministry's statement said the Ecuadoran government investigates any situation related to human rights.
Only three chickens died in the bombing, Miguel said, pointing to clumps of feathers between broken bricks. But four of his employees alleged that they were beaten, abducted and tortured by the Ecuadoran military.
Mario Pazmiño, a former intelligence director for Ecuador's Army, said the attack couldn't have been an error.
"It is an information-gathering process that takes military intelligence different periods of time − sometimes months," he told theEcuadoran news station Teleamazonas. "Once that information is obtained, special intelligence teams carry out incursions in that area to gather information on the ground."
Resident shows property records, farm tour
Miguel provided property records, reviewed by USA TODAY, showing he owns the property, filing them with the local canton government in March 2022. He's also part of the San Martin farmers' association, which has been ministerially recognized since 2010.
In the video call, Miguel stood on the foundations of what were once housing for four workers and a kitchen, showing a crumpled cooler for storing cheese. Near where the chicken coop was, he collected remaining parts of his farm equipment, including a broken scythe and two torn saddles.
In a small wooden shed, which is now missing the roof and a wall, he said he made queso prensado, pressed cheese, that he sold at local bakeries. Two dented blue bottles of Cuajo Titanium, a liquid coagulating enzyme used to curdle milk, remained on a wooden table, caked in mud.
A window from the shed looked out to the San Miguel River, and to Colombia just on the other side.
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In early March, Ecuadoran military planes and helicopters flew along the river as part of the joint military operation.
Ecuadoran soldiers are suspected of setting fire to two uninhabited homes beginning March 1, and later to Miguel's farm, when they detained four of his workers on March 3, according to a March 12 complaint filed with Ecuador's interior ministry. The workers have told aUnited Nations human rights officethat Ecuadoran armed forces later tortured them.
US intel used, one rifle recovered, Ecuador says
The defense ministry said armed forces apprehended four Colombian citizens, the four workers, allegedly linked to Border Command, a Colombian drug trafficking group. Officials used intelligence information validated in cooperation with the United States, according to the defense ministry.
From the operation, the defense ministry said officials found a semiautomatic rifle and a magazine with 30 cartridges in the area of operations, which wasn't disclosed in prior announcements. Officials didn't specify where they found the weapon. Miguel said he doesn't have firearms on the farm.
Residents filmed military personnel taking the men onto a helicopter. The men said they were later subjected to electrocutions, their bodies suspended upside down for more than two hours, beaten and faced threats not to speak about their detention when they were released March 4, the complaint said.
On March 6, Ecuadoran armed forces returned, this time to bomb the remnants of Miguel's property,captured in a videoshared by the Department of War. The United States has saidTotal Exterminationshowed successful cooperation between the two countries to aggressively fight drug traffickers.
Ecuador, while not a major producer of cocaine, is bordered next to the world's two largest producers, Colombia and Peru. Ecuador has become a major smuggling route to the United States.
U.S. Southern Command, which took part in the operations, declined to comment. The Department of War said it doesn't comment on investigations, referring questions about intelligence gathering to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The agency didn't respond to emailed questions.
San Martin residents filed complaints in mid-March with Ecuador's government regarding bombings and alleged torture. Following news reporting on the operation, Ecuador's public prosecutor's office on March 25 and the government ombudsman's office on March 24 responded to residents that their respective offices opened investigations into military actions, including torture allegations, according to documents reviewed by USA TODAY.
Ecuador government seeks hardened border
The defense ministry said nearly 25 miles of Ecuador's border are security zones for national defense, making unauthorized constructions or settlements illegal.
"Consequently, any building in these conditions constitutes a crime," the statement said.
It's unclear which law supports the ministry's statement. Ángel González, a Alliance for Human Rights lawyer, said national security laws apply to foreigners owning property along the border, which wouldn't include Miguel, an Ecuadoran national, according to his identification card and property records.
Back on his farm, Miguel shared a video from his barn, of cattle under a corrugated metal roof as workers stood atop fencing. Bachata played faintly, with plucky notes from the guitar cutting through cows' grunts.
The barn, about 50 meters from where the bomb dropped on his farm, is visible on Google maps.
Contributing:Boris Q'va, USA TODAY Network
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email atemcuevas1@usatoday.comor on Signal at emcuevas.01.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Ecuador defends bombing farm in joint US operation.
It was a sunny afternoon in San Martin, Ecuador, on March 26 when Miguel, a 32-year-old Ecuadoran carpenter, gave a USA T...
