Ecuador Giving U.S. Air Base the Boot

[Judi Lynn]

Ecuador Giving U.S. Air Base the Boot
Prevailing Nationalism, Investment From Elsewhere Make American Presence Obsolete

By Joshua Partlow
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, September 4, 2008; Page A06

MANTA, Ecuador -- When U.S. officers stationed in this humid coastal city give reasons they should continue their decade-old airborne surveillance mission, they talk not only about fighting drug runners on the open seas but about the $71 million they've spent to renovate and maintain the city's airport, and the $6.5 million they inject each year into the local economy.

But the government of Ecuador has decided, and Washington has apparently agreed, that one of the most important foreign outposts in the United States' war on drugs will close. The 450 U.S. Air Force personnel and contractors stationed at a military base that shares the airport's runway will be leaving next year.

~snip~
During his campaign for president, Correa said he would not renew a 10-year agreement reached with the United States in November 1999 that allowed the U.S. military to operate from the base at Manta. In late July, Ecuador's Foreign Ministry officially notified the United States that it must evacuate by November of next year.

~snip~
"This is a problem for us of sovereignty," Larrea said. "It's as if we had a base in New York. This would be incomprehensible for North Americans."

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090303289.html

[silverweb]

1. Good.

South America has been making huge strides towards real democracy and cooperation among its continent's nations.

We've hindered that independent progress far too long as it is, and it's well past time for us to butt out.