US Homeland Security Secretary tours Ecuador military facilities before referendum on allowing foreign bases to combat drug trafficking
QUITO: US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrived in Ecuador to tour military facilities ahead of a crucial referendum on permitting foreign bases.
The Sunday vote occurs amid a US military operation involving deadly strikes on suspected drug boats and naval deployments.
President Daniel Noboa supports the strategy as drug gangs transformed Ecuador into South America’s most violent nation.
Noem visited Eloy Alfaro Air Base in Manta as part of her inspection of “strategic facilities” for potential US Homeland Security use.
“If voters approve the measure, US security and defense agencies, together with Ecuadorian police and military forces in charge of fighting organized crime, will jointly operate at those bases,” said presidential spokeswoman Carolina Jaramillo.
Noem’s department handles anti-terrorism, border control and immigration operations.
“When crime knows no borders, strategies against it must also know no borders,” stated Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo regarding US-Ecuador cooperation.
He emphasized the partnership focuses on “technological resources and equipment, which Ecuador still lacks.”
Noem will visit Salinas military base on Thursday in the country’s southwest region.
Manta previously hosted US anti-drug surveillance aircraft until Ecuador’s 2008 constitution banned foreign bases.
Salinas accommodated a US military installation during World War II, with both locations now housing Ecuadoran military facilities.
Noboa, a regional ally of US President Donald Trump, confirmed both nations rejected establishing a US base in the Galapagos Islands.
The president also revealed discussions with Brazil about creating an Amazonian police force to combat organized crime. – AFP
