The U.S. military is sending a contingent of Air Force personnel to Ecuador in support of “anti-drug trafficking” operations.
The U.S. embassy in Quito announced the deployment in a statement on X on Dec. 17, saying that the American forces will operate out of the military base at Manta, with the Ecuadorian Air Force.
The deployment comes a month after Ecuadorian voters rejected a proposal to lift the country’s ban on foreign military bases by a roughly 2-1 margin. That proposal would have allowed the United States to fully return to the base at Manta, which it vacated in 2009 after a decade of operations.
Agence France-Presse first reported on the news. In a statement to Task & Purpose, a spokesperson for U.S. Southern Command said that the “short-term mission will be conducted within the framework of existing bilateral agreements and in accordance with Ecuadorian law.”
“This operation is a key component of our enduring security partnership with Ecuador, and it’s aimed at enhancing their military’s capacity to counter narco-terrorism,” the statement continued.
SOUTHCOM declined to share how many troops were deploying, citing “operational security concerns.” According to the statement, the mission involves strengthening intelligence collection and counter-narcotics capabilities, but SOUTHCOM also did not say what units the troops will be drawn from or how long the short-term mission will last. The base, located in the city’s Eloy Alfaro International Airport, is along the Pacific coast.
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Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, an ally of the Trump administration, said on social media that the American deployment will help “identify and dismantle drug trafficking routes,” as he steps up a campaign against drug cartels. Dawn reports, citing Ecuador’s defense ministry, that U.S. Air Force planes have already arrived in the country.
The move comes as the United States continues to carry out airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the waters around Latin America. Strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since Sept. 2 have killed 104 people according to the Pentagon’s released figures. The ongoing strikes, part of Operation Southern Spear, are aimed at people the Trump administration has labeled “narco-terrorists.” The U.S. Navy has ships operating on both sides of the Panama Canal, including a large armada in the Caribbean. The Pentagon has also moved several aircraft to the region, including F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico and AC-130J Ghostrider gunships to El Salvador. The military is also reviving shuttered bases in the region in Panama and Puerto Rico.
Although the U.S. left the base in Manta in 2009, U.S. troops do work with Ecuadorian forces as part of ongoing bilateral security agreements, often in a training or advisory role. Earlier this month U.S. forces supported an operation by the Ecuadorian Army that seized 1.4 tons of cocaine. Noboa had pushed for the lifting of the ban on foreign bases, and toured Manta with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in November prior to the referendum.
