Noboa wants constitutional amendment to allow US anti-drug operations to return to Ecuador

President Daniel Noboa will ask the National Assembly to amend the constitution to allow foreign military bases on Ecuadorian soil, he said Monday in a message on X. The United States previously operated a military base in Manta to combat drug trafficking, but former President Rafael Correa ordered U.S. troops to leave in 2009.

President Daniel Noboa speaks at a military event in Manta on Monday.

Ecuador’s most recent constitution, adopted in 2008 during the Correa administration, prohibits the presence of foreign military installations on Ecuadorian territory.

“Today we present to the Assembly a partial constitutional reform that substantially modifies Article 5 of the Constitution, which prohibits the creation of foreign military bases for military purposes. In a transnational conflict, we need a national and international response,” Noboa said in the message.

In January, Noboa declared that Ecuador was waging an “internal war” to end violence between gangs linked to drug cartels.

“We are rebuilding a country that was brought to its knees by previous governments,” Noboa said. “This is a country that they have turned into a cradle for drug trafficking, that they have divided among the mafia with a false idea of ​​sovereignty,” Noboa said in a video recorded from the military base in Manta.

In recent weeks, Noboa and other members of his administration have alleged that actions coinciding with the closure of U.S. anti-drug operations in Manta opened the door for Mexican and Colombian drug cartels to enter the country and establish Ecuador’s ports as major shipping channels for drugs, primarily cocaine, bound for Europe and the U.S.

According to Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, drug shipments from the ports of Guayaquil, Manta and Machala were “minimal,” while the U.S. was conducting surveillance flights and naval patrols from Manta. “After the U.S. personnel left, we saw a steady and rapid increase in shipments based on seizures,” she said. “We have gathered irrefutable evidence of a direct link between the closure of the base and the entry of drug traffickers into the country.”

Last week, Noboa ordered an investigation into the possible cover-up of assassinations during the Correa administration, and the subsequent administrations of Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso. In an interview about the order, Noboa said there was “strong evidence” that Correa knew that closing the anti-narcotics operation in Manta would increase drug trafficking in Ecuador. “The evidence also suggests that he had conversations with drug cartels and gangs, knowing that this would happen, and then covered up assassinations when the cartels began fighting over territory.”

Naboa and Sommerfeld’s suspicions were reinforced by a recent study by University of Chicago researcher Arduino Tomasi. Tomasi claims that 7,700 murders were reclassified to “homicide to undetermined cause” status during Correa’s presidency.

Tomasi said the number of deaths labeled “undetermined cause” rose by more than 800 percent after the Manta base was closed. Tomasi claimed, based on his research, that nearly all of the reclassified deaths involved “extreme violence, consistent with drug cartel killings.”

In interviews with Ecuadorian media, Tomasi said Correa was aware that by ending U.S. anti-drug operations, Colombian drug cartels would expand cocaine exports through Ecuadorian ports. “He (Correa) also knew that the number of homicides would increase significantly, as the cartels and gangs fought for dominance in the new market,” Tomasi told Ecuador Envivo. “Correa wanted to hide the increase in homicides from the public and had them reclassified.”