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US kept E-3 AWACs and P-3 Orion surveillance planes at Ecuador's Pacific Manta air base. |
Ecuador has closed down a US military post and obliged the last group of US forces to leave the South American state, ending a decade of 'subordination'.
Upon a ceremony on the departure of American soldiers from Ecuador's Pacific Manta air base on Friday, the country's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi hailed the US troops' exit from the Hispanic nation and dubbed the stay as 'unconstitutional.'
Referring to the Latin American states, Falconi told the audience that "the great motherland rejects all forms of supervision that attempt to bring about subordination."
Meanwhile, Ecuador's Security Minister, Miguel Carvajal on Friday lauded the reclamation of 'sovereignty' adding, "The Ecuadorean government is very satisfied to comply with a constitutional mandate and deliver on a campaign promise ... by fully recuperating our sovereignty over the Manta base," according to AP.
The 15 remaining US soldiers who were on a ten-year contract to help guard Ecuador against drug traffickers left the country only to be reportedly stationed in Colombia where the government has leased a number of bases to US military on similar grounds.
Ecuador's leftist leader Rafael Correa had, in his presidential campaigns in 2006, vowed to disengage US troops from surveillance operations the US says is intended to capture narcotics smugglers from neighboring Colombia and Peru from where the largest global supplies of cocaine come.
Earlier this year, Correa expelled a number of US Embassy officials from the country for "meddling" with counter-drug police.
The South American state, however, has negotiated a new 'narcotrafficking' accord with the United States that allows exchange of information on organized crime between the two countries and includes a seven-million dollar anti-crime aid package from the States.
Upon a ceremony on the departure of American soldiers from Ecuador's Pacific Manta air base on Friday, the country's Foreign Minister Fander Falconi hailed the US troops' exit from the Hispanic nation and dubbed the stay as 'unconstitutional.'
Referring to the Latin American states, Falconi told the audience that "the great motherland rejects all forms of supervision that attempt to bring about subordination."
Meanwhile, Ecuador's Security Minister, Miguel Carvajal on Friday lauded the reclamation of 'sovereignty' adding, "The Ecuadorean government is very satisfied to comply with a constitutional mandate and deliver on a campaign promise ... by fully recuperating our sovereignty over the Manta base," according to AP.
The 15 remaining US soldiers who were on a ten-year contract to help guard Ecuador against drug traffickers left the country only to be reportedly stationed in Colombia where the government has leased a number of bases to US military on similar grounds.
Ecuador's leftist leader Rafael Correa had, in his presidential campaigns in 2006, vowed to disengage US troops from surveillance operations the US says is intended to capture narcotics smugglers from neighboring Colombia and Peru from where the largest global supplies of cocaine come.
Earlier this year, Correa expelled a number of US Embassy officials from the country for "meddling" with counter-drug police.
The South American state, however, has negotiated a new 'narcotrafficking' accord with the United States that allows exchange of information on organized crime between the two countries and includes a seven-million dollar anti-crime aid package from the States.
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