(Adnkronos) – Ecuador ”would very much like” the United States to send troops to the country to counter criminal gangs and play a supporting role for local forces. This was stated by Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa in an exclusive interview with CNN, his first since winning Sunday’s election. “There are plans, we’ve had talks, we have options that we would like to pursue. And now we just need another meeting, post-election, now as president-elect, to solidify it,” Noboa said. Ecuador has been asking for foreign military support for months, saying the fight against gangs is a “transnational war.”
Noboa explained that “we would like to collaborate with U.S. forces and I think there are many ways to do that, especially monitoring illegal operations that start from Ecuador,” specifying that ”control of operations will be in the hands of our military and our police.” Last month a Quito official told CNN on condition of anonymity that Ecuador is building a new naval base in the coastal city of Manta with the goal of having it occupied by ”U.S. troops.” The United States has already conducted operations in that area. From 1999 to 2009, CNN recalls, it conducted surveillance flights against drug routes in the eastern Pacific.
Noboa, however, told CNN that he has a different relationship with the U.S. president than Donald Trump has with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, who has agreed to take in migrants deported from U.S. soil after being accused of violent crimes. “My case is different from El Salvador’s. We both respect each other. We support each other, but at the same time we live different realities. And we have to see things according to the country,” he said, stressing that he has invited both Trump and Bukele to his inauguration ceremony on May 24.
Meanwhile, another meeting with U.S. officials is expected ”sooner rather than later,” he said.
