This Sunday, Ecuadorans will vote on whether to allow foreign military bases to return to the country. In Manta, a Pacific city that for a decade hosted an outpost of US forces, opinions are divided. The old US airbase now stands empty — its rooms vacant, windows gone, with dust and weeds taking over.But Ecuadorans — led by President Daniel Noboa — want to return “US Forward Operating Location” Manta to past glories. On Sunday, he will ask voters for their permission, arguing a return of US troops would help fight rampant drug trafficking.Since leftist president Rafael Correa decided to kick US forces out in 2008, Ecuador has gone from being one of the safest countries in Latin America to one of the most dangerous. Noboa sees a direct link: “We’re going after those who’ve had free rein since 2008,” he said after recently touring the site with a top US official. Voters seem receptive. About 61 percent of Ecuadorans plan to vote in favor of repealing a ban on foreign bases, according to the Cedatos polling firm. But support is not universal.- ‘Waste’ and ‘abuse’ -For people like Trinidad Rodriguez, who sells food on Manta’s streets, the idea is misguided. “It’s a waste of time and money,” she told AFP, arguing that resources would be better used to help the poor. “We’re forgotten. We don’t even have water.” Other locals are more resolute in their opposition. They recall disappearances and alleged abuses between 1999 and 2009, when thousands of US personnel passed through the resort city while carrying immunity from prosecution. The base was used to run US intelligence reconnaissance flights, detecting potential drug smuggling. On the water, the US Coast Guard contingent was charged with intercepting any boats spotted and was accused of sinking several fishing boats. In all, more than 5,000 missions took place, according to an Ecuadoran parliament report. In Los Esteros, a fishing neighborhood near the base, Maria Urgiles still mourns her husband, who vanished at sea in 2002.She is in no doubt about his fate: “The Forward Operating Post (US forces) sank the boat. Eighteen men disappeared,” she said. “They weren’t animals who went out to fish; they were fathers, sons, husbands, uncles who went to earn bread for their children.” INREDH, a local human rights group, documented 14 sunk boats over the period, four damaged, and one missing.- Iron fist -A return of US forces at Manta could spell an even more aggressive interdiction strategy this time round. US President Donald Trump’s administraion is leading strikes on alleged cocaine-trafficking boats out of the waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific. Roberto Salazar, president of the International Port of Manta, is hopeful the United States can help.He believes US forces can help weed out drugs from the 1.2 million tons of cargo a year that passes through Manta every year, including a large chunk of Ecuador’s tuna exports. “The involvement or participation of international support, whether through technological or financial resources, will always be important,” he said. “Today we know the crisis our country is facing because of drug trafficking, and it will always be crucial to have that logistical support.” Some locals are not so convinced the base would make much difference. “The base didn’t help much” to secure the city, according to economist Frank Mestanza, who fled Manta in 2022 after threats. “The city was already safe. Things got worse for other reasons,” he said.   Ecuador sits between the world’s two largest producers of cocaine — Colombia and Peru. Its deep-water ports are an excellent way of getting that cocaine to markets in the United States, Europe, and Asia.Neither of those things is likely to change with the arrival of US forces, nor will the fact that Ecuador now has Latin America’s highest homicide rate. “A military base won’t fix this,” says Carla Alvarez of the Institute of Advanced National Studies. 

A US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in Latin America Tuesday, escalating a military buildup Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict as it announced its own “massive” deployment.The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, entered an area under control of the US Naval Forces Southern Command, which encompasses Latin America and the Caribbean, the command said in a statement.The vessel’s deployment was ordered nearly three weeks ago, with the stated goal of helping to counter drug trafficking in the region.Its presence “will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.President Donald Trump’s administration is conducting a military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, deploying naval and air forces for an anti-drugs offensive.Caracas fears the deployment, which also includes F-35 stealth warplanes sent to Puerto Rico and six US Navy ships in the Caribbean, is a regime change plot in disguise.President Nicolas Maduro, whose last two reelections were dismissed as fraudulent by Washington and dozens of other countries, has accused the Trump administration of “fabricating a war.””If we as a republic, as a people, go into an armed struggle in order to defend the sacred legacy of the liberators, we’re ready to win,” Maduro said Tuesday.On November 2, Trump played down the prospect of going to war with Venezuela but said the days of Maduro — whom he accuses of being a drug lord — were numbered.US forces have carried out strikes on about 20 vessels in international waters in the region since early September, killing at least 76 people, according to US figures.In response to these strikes, Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered the suspension of his country’s intel exchange with Washington on Tuesday, a pause which “will remain in force as long as the missile attacks on boats continue,” he said in a post on X.The Trump administration says the United States is engaged in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, which it describes as “terrorist” groups.Washington has not provided any evidence the stricken vessels were used to smuggle drugs, and human rights experts say the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers.- ‘Unacceptable’ -Venezuela announced Tuesday what it called a major, nationwide military deployment to counter the US naval presence off its coast.The defense ministry in Caracas spoke in a statement of a “massive deployment” of land, sea, air, river and missile forces as well as civilian militia to counter “imperial threats.” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said 200,000 troops participated in an exercise, though no military activity was observed in the capital Caracas.Padrino sought to assure Venezuelans the country was “safeguarded, protected, defended.””They are murdering defenseless people, whether or not they are drug traffickers, executing them without due process,” the minister added of the US operation.Experts have told AFP that Venezuela, with an ill-disciplined fighting force and outdated arsenal, would be at a serious disadvantage in a military standoff with the United States.On Tuesday, Russia denounced US strikes on boats from Venezuela — an ally of Moscow — as “unacceptable.””This is how, in general, lawless countries act, as well as those who consider themselves above the law,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised remarks, questioning what he described as a “pretext of fighting drugs.”Maduro relies heavily on the Kremlin for political and economic support. US-Russia relations have soured in recent weeks as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow over the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.The United Kingdom, meanwhile, would not comment Tuesday on a CNN report that it had stopped sharing intelligence with the United States about suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.A spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters in London: “We don’t comment on security or intelligence matters.”He underlined that “the US is our closest partner on defense, security, intelligence,” and would not be drawn on reported UK concerns about the strikes.”Decisions on this are a matter for the US,” the spokesman said.burs-mlr/jgc/sla