Go Back   Professional Soldiers ® > At Ease > The Early Bird

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-31-2008, 06:32   #1
stickey
Guerrilla
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: SE U.S.
Posts: 207
Ecuador to shut down U.S. anti-drug operation

Interesting news. What will be more interesting are the affects that this will have, and only time can tell....i give it less than a month after operations cease and there's an influx of activity....or, the US finds another cooperating nation to operate out of.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americ...ase/index.html


# Story Highlights
# Deal that expires next year lets U.S. conduct anti-drug operations from Ecuador
# Citizens "do not want foreign troops on our soil," Ecuadorian ambassador says
# U.S. State Department spokesman: Move will leave "serious gap" in anti-drug effort



From Mike Mount
CNN Pentagon Producer
Decrease font Decrease font
Enlarge font Enlarge font

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States is losing access to one of its three counternarcotics bases in Latin America, U.S. military officials said Wednesday.

The Ecuadorian government has told the Bush administration it will not renew a 10-year agreement letting U.S. troops conduct anti-drug operations from Manta Air Base, an Ecuadorian Air Force installation, military officials said.

The United States has used Manta Air Base since 1999 to run aerial surveillance of the eastern Pacific Ocean, looking for drug runners on the high seas as well as illicit flights.

Ecuador notified the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday that it will not renew the agreement after it expires in November 2009, the U.S. military officials said.

"The Ecuadorian people do not want foreign troops on our soil, and the government has to follow the mandate of its people," Luis Gallegos, Ecuador's ambassador to the United States, said Wednesday.
Don't Miss

* Ecuador assembly backs draft charter
* Ecuador seizes TV stations

"We have spent more than $150 million on troops to monitor the border with Colombia and will continue to support anti-narcotics operations in our country," Gallegos said.

The U.S. State Department's reaction to the announcement was mixed.

"The operations there are critical to our overall counternarcotics strategy, but Ecuador has promised continued close cooperation to confront the threat of drug smuggling," said Heidi Bronke, a spokeswoman for the department.

State Department chief spokesman Sean McCormack said the decision was Ecuador's to make.


"We note, however, that the closure will leave a serious gap in efforts by the United States and our partners to confront illegal drug trafficking throughout the region," he added.

Up to eight planes fly missions from Manta. About 250 U.S. military personnel and civilians work there.

Since the start of U.S. operations there, about 60 percent of the drug interdictions in the eastern Pacific have involved the planes based out of Manta, including the capture of more than 200 metric tons of drugs in 2007, according to U.S. military officials.

State Department officials said they could not talk about plans to move the mission to another country.

Manta is the only U.S. base in South America. The U.S. military operates two other counternarcotics bases in the region: a naval operation in El Salvador and an air operation in Curacao in the Caribbean.
stickey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2008, 07:51   #2
SF_BHT
Quiet Professional
 
SF_BHT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Sneaking back and forth across the Border
Posts: 6,672
This is nothing New down here. The EC Pres has been saying he will do this for Months. Just another Chavez Pupett.....

They will flood into the gap and we will have to work 10 times harder to track the movements.
SF_BHT is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-31-2008, 08:30   #3
The Reaper
Quiet Professional
 
The Reaper's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Free Pineland
Posts: 24,804
Quote:
Originally Posted by SF_BHT View Post
This is nothing New down here. The EC Pres has been saying he will do this for Months. Just another Chavez Pupett.....

They will flood into the gap and we will have to work 10 times harder to track the movements.
Exactly.

Look at what the Peruvians did to a USAF C-130 back in 1992 or so.

The one thing that you can count on is that the HN and their leadership will act in their own best interest first and foremost.

The negatives of the base obviously outweigh the positives, in their view.

TR
__________________
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
The Reaper is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 13:00.



Copyright 2004-2022 by Professional Soldiers ®
Site Designed, Maintained, & Hosted by Hilliker Technologies