QUITO, May 2.— Ecuador confirmed this Wednesday its refusal to participate in the UNITAS 2007 maneuvers because of an unacceptable attitude on the part of the United States.
A statement from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry revealed that this nation does not accept impositions and negations of control with respect to the entry of U.S. troops in maritime waters in order to carry out these exercises.
Such a decision motivated the Southern Command of that nation to cancel the venue for the aforementioned military operations in Ecuador and transfer it to Colombia.
“In the face of these unusual, unilateral, non-consulted and unacceptable decisions,” it has been decided not to take part in these training exercises that are also going ahead in Chile and Peru, stated the communiqué.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Ecuador has withdrawn from the exercises due to the fact that the United States failed to respond to its request that foreign vessels send a protocol signal on entering its territorial waters on the southern border with Peru.
A request such as this adheres to the protocol observed by these countries in 2003 when staging the operations.
These problems have prompted Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa to endorse the decision to suspend participation in the maneuvers. (PL)
Translated by Granma International
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