A US Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster takes off from José Aponte de la Torre Airport, formerly Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, on December 17, 2025 in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. MIGUEL J. RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO / AFP
The United States announced on Wednesday, December 17, a temporary deployment of Air Force personnel to Ecuador to combat drug trafficking in one of Latin America's biggest narcotics smuggling hubs. The deployment comes amid a deepening standoff between the US and Latin American oil producer Venezuela, whose leader Washington accuses of drug trafficking.
The US personnel will be deployed at Ecuador's Manta air force base, which served as a US base for a decade until 2009.
Ecuadorian voters in November overwhelmingly rejected President Daniel Noboa's bid to lift the country's ban on foreign military bases. According to the US embassy in Quito, the deployment is a "temporary operation with the Ecuadorian Air Force in Manta."
The "short-term joint effort" will "enhance the capacity of the Ecuadorian military forces to combat narco-terrorists, including strengthening intelligence gathering and anti-drug trafficking capabilities, and is designed to protect the US and Ecuador from the threats we share," the embassy said.
