Troubled U.S. military base on Ecuador's coast

[struggle4progress]

007/2/7
MANTA, Ecuador, AP

The U.S. military's lone outpost in South America is a modest affair -- some 220 Americans share space with a local air force wing and an international airport. They are allowed no more than eight planes at a time ...

That matters little to newly inaugurated President Rafael Correa, whose rejection of a U.S. military presence in Ecuador reflects widespread resentment over Washington's foreign policy in a region where the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush now has few reliable allies.

"We've said clearly that in 2009 the agreement will not be renewed because we believe that sovereignty consists of not having foreign soldiers on our home soil," Correa said recently ...

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/international/200727/101954.htm

Mostly a corporate-media puff-piece on the glorious drug war but the above part is interesting

[bemildred]

1. Yeah, but funny things seem to happen around Manta.

Drugs and money and spooks have that sort of effect. I hope he shuts the US mission there down. Let's just stick with diplomats for foreign diplomacy.