Quito, Ecuador.- Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has submitted to the Constitutional Court a draft constitutional reform that he hopes will allow the installation of foreign military bases in the country, arguing that it is necessary to combat transnational crime.
The proposal, which still has to go through a long process that could be completed when Noboa’s term ends, proposes eliminating the express prohibition contained in the Ecuadorian Constitution against the establishment of foreign military bases or installations in Ecuador.
That ban is included in the Magna Carta that was approved by the Constituent Assembly in 2008 when Rafael Correa (2007-2017), a leftist, came to power. He claimed to defend national sovereignty, which forced the withdrawal of US military personnel from a base in a coastal city where they had been based for 10 years. Noboa’s constitutional reform project to reverse that decision would also allow foreign personnel to occupy existing Ecuadorian military installations.
In a video released on Monday, hours before submitting the text to the Constitutional Court, the President justified his proposal by saying that “in a transnational conflict, we need national and international responses.”
He reproached the fact that the country was “left on its knees” – in reference to the decision of previous governments to withdraw and prevent foreign military bases – and that Ecuador became a cradle of drug trafficking. They handed it out to the mafias with a false notion of sovereignty, he stressed. The South American nation has had rising murder figures for at least three years and consecutive declarations of exception in the face of episodes of violence and insecurity in the streets and in prisons. In announcing his proposal, Noboa called on the National Assembly to “decide which side of history it is on.” And he stressed that previous decisions “only weakened our country in the face of threats that today know no borders, have no mercy.” Former President Rafael Correa reacted through X, formerly Twitter, with a message in which he disqualified Noboa for his “total incapacity and lack of morals” and questioned him why he did not propose this measure in the recent referendum on security last April. In a statement from the Office of the President, it was specified that, if the constitutional reform is approved, Article 5 of the Magna Carta would only have the following text: “Ecuador is a territory of peace.” That article, in force since 2008, now states that “Ecuador is a territory of peace. The establishment of foreign military bases or foreign installations for military purposes will not be permitted.” The Constitutional Court must evaluate the executive’s proposal before it goes to the Assembly. Constitutionalist André Benavides, in conversation with The Associated Press, clarified that the Court will verify whether Noboa’s initiative meets the requirements to be processed and, if so, it will then be sent to the Assembly. Then, the Legislature will submit it in two plenary sessions for approval or rejection – a majority of at least 92 of the 137 legislators is needed – and finally, the reform will go to a referendum for final ratification. That process, Benavides said, could take between eight and nine months if there are no problems. Although “due to the political moment, due to the climate in the country, it is possible that it will receive support.” Noboa’s government ends its term in May of next year, which makes it difficult for the reform to complete the entire process before the end of his term. However, the President has announced that he will run for reelection in the elections of February 2025. The withdrawal of US military personnel from the Manta air base in 2009 was controversial by voices critical of the Correa government who in subsequent years – and especially in light of the increase in violence since 2021 – pointed out that this facilitated the expansion of organized crime related to drug trafficking in that coastal area and in the rest of the country. From these Ecuadorian facilities, the US military carried out aerial controls of the region in order to neutralize drug trafficking, as they had argued at the time.
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