An Ecuadorean prosecutor looking into deadly US boat strikes and torture claims was assassinated, a dark turn that points to a cover-up.

• The US has killed at least 211 people on boats in the Caribbean, claiming they were drug traffickers, but with no trials or proof.
• Survivors say US troops captured them, held and tortured them for over a week, then dumped them in El Salvador; some men are still missing.
• Prosecutor Alexandra Bravo was appointed to investigate the strikes and torture, then shot dead in the street along with her sister; her security detail vanished.
• Bravo was pressured to treat the cases as simple disappearances and ignore the torture evidence, like men left with 70% vision loss and feet torn to the bone.
• Ecuador's president, a Miami-born billionaire close to Trump, is accused of stonewalling; Bravo is the 26th justice official killed there since 2020.

Outlook: The US has ignored a UN deadline to explain the missing men, and with both governments blocking the probe, justice looks unlikely.