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US
Pulling Out from Manta Base
Quito - The United States stopped Friday its
operations at the Manta military base, on the
Ecuadorian coast, and started the process for its
definitive withdrawal from that military camp,
occupied since 1999.
US military activities are concluding on Friday at
the base, which will be returned to the Ecuadorian
authorities on September 18, this country's Defense
Minister Javier Ponce said in recent days.
It is the first stage of the process to end the
contract, "in which they stop operating," and there
is a set deadline for them to return the base
physically, he said.
Ponce recalled that there were negotiations with US
Pentagon representatives and the details of the
transference of the anti-drug surveillance center
were determined, after the Ecuadorian decision of
not renewing the contract under which the base was
established 10 years ago.
He clarified that the struggle against drug
trafficking would not stop, because they have six
manned aircrafts, four radar stations and eight
speed boats to carry out that activity and safeguard
the national sovereignty defense.
Twenty four Spertucano fighter aircrafts,
manufactured in Brazil, will add to those means, and
will arrive in the country by late 2009.
After the US withdrawal, Ecuador will recover
sovereignty of part of its national territory that
was given unconstitutionally to the United States by
then President Jamil Mahuad on November 12, 1999,
amid an economic, social and political crisis that
the country was undergoing in that period, an
official communique said.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa ruled out
renewing the contract to authorize the United States
to use the base for 10 other years, which forces the
foreign troops to leave the country. |
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