Ecuador has talked to the United States about receiving support in its battle against criminal gangs, President Daniel Noboa said in an exclusive interview with CNN, his first since winning Sunday’s presidential election.
“There are plans … we had conversations, we had a plan, we had options that we would like to follow. And now we just need another meeting, post-election, now as an elected president, to consolidate it,” Noboa told CNN’s Fernando del Rincon on Tuesday.
Ecuador has been requesting foreign military support for months, saying that its fight against gangs is a “transnational war” that requires the contribution of multiple countries.
Noboa said that while his administration “would love to have” US forces in Ecuador, he insisted that they would not be out patrolling the streets. Instead, they would play a supportive role in Ecuador’s security operations.
“We would like to cooperate with US forces, and I think there are many ways that we can do that, especially in monitoring illegal operations that move out of Ecuador, but the control of the operations will be in the hands of our military and our police,” he said.
Ecuador has been laying the groundwork for US forces to arrive, according to plans obtained by CNN. A high-level Ecuadorian official familiar with the planning told CNN last month that the country is constructing a new naval facility in the coastal city of Manta, with the expectation that it “will be eventually occupied by US troops.”
The US has previously carried out operations in that area. From 1999 to 2009, it ran surveillance flights targeting drug routes in the eastern Pacific at the now-defunct Manta Air Base.
Noboa told CNN on Tuesday he is seeking to reform the constitution to allow foreign military presence in the country again, and is open to having military bases to help control illegal operations such as drug trafficking, illegal fishing and mining. “That would help to keep peace … like we had in the past with the Manta base,” he said.
He said the US had been waiting until the outcome of Sunday’s election to resume talks. Noboa won the vote decisively against leftist lawyer Luisa González, having campaigned on a promise to restore security with a hardline approach and revitalize the economy.
Noboa, who was born and educated in the United States, has been trying to boost cooperation with Washington on various issues – from trade to migration. On the latter issue, he says he wants to improve living conditions at home to incentivize Ecuadorians to remain in the country, instead of migrating to the US.
Asked whether his relationship with US President Donald Trump is comparable to the one Trump has cultivated with El Salvador’s strongman President Nayib Bukele – who has agreed to take in deported migrants from the US accused of violent crimes – Noboa said his situation is different.
“My case is different than El Salvador’s case. And we both respect each other. We both support each other, but at the same at the same time, different realities. And we need to view things according to each country and each country,” he said, noting that he has invited both Trump and Bukele to his inauguration on May 24.
Asked whether another meeting with US officials was on the horizon, he replied, “Yes, I think sooner (rather) than later.”
The national police says the start to the year has been the most violent in the country’s history, with more than 2,500 homicides. Data from organized crime research center InSight Crime suggests Ecuador now has the highest homicide rate in Latin America, with nearly twice as many killings as Mexico. The surge has been fueled by drug trafficking routes, turf wars and alliances between local gangs and foreign cartels.
In March, Noboa also announced a “strategic alliance” to fight organized crime with Erik Prince, the founder of the controversial private defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater.
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