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QUITO, Ecuador -- The survivor of a U.S. strike on a submersible vessel accused by the Trump administration of transporting drugs in the Caribbean was released by authorities in Ecuador after prosecutors said they had no evidence he committed a crime in the South American nation, a government official said Monday. The official, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told The Associated Press that the Ecuadorian man, identified as Andrés Fernando Tufiño, was in good health after medical evaluations. The attorney general's office did not immediately comment. The man was repatriated by the United States over the weekend after a U.S. military attack on a submersible vessel suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean. A Colombian citizen also survived the attack and remains hospitalized after being repatriated to that country. U.S. military personnel rescued both men after destroying the submersible on Thursday. President Donald Trump said on social media that U.S. intelligence confirmed the vessel was carrying "mostly fentanyl and other illegal drugs." Trump said that two people on board were killed, and the two survivors were being repatriated to their home countries "for detention and prosecution." The attack on the submersible was at least the sixth of its kind since September. A seventh that occurred Friday, was reported over the weekend, bringing the total deaths from the attacks to at least 32. The strikes have set off tensions in the region, particularly between Trump, Venezuela and Colombia, once one of the American government's tightest allies in the Western Hemisphere. The Colombian government said its survivor "will be prosecuted according to the law" on drug-trafficking accusations. It noted that the man was seriously wounded. Colombia's government said Monday that it had recalled its ambassador to the United States following an increasingly angry back-and-forth between its president, Gustavo Petro, and Trump over the strikes. Tensions increased Sunday when Trump called Petro "an illegal drug leader" and "a lunatic" after Petro accused the U.S. government of killing a Colombian citizen in a Sept. 16 strike on a boat the U.S. accused of carrying drugs. Meanwhile, Ecuador's conservative president, Daniel Noboa, said Monday in a message on X addressed to his U.S. counterpart: "President Trump, Ecuador remains firm in the global fight against drug trafficking." He added that such challenges "require unity among nations committed to peace and prosperity." Trump has justified the actions, saying the United States is engaged in an "armed conflict" against drug cartels. He has relied on the same legal reasoning used by the George W. Bush administration when it declared war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It includes the authority to capture and detain combatants and use lethal force to eliminate their leaders. Information for this article was contributed by Astrid Suárez of The Associated Press.
