QUITO: Ecuadoran voters roundly rejected the return of US military bases to the country in a referendum Sunday, a major political blow to Trump-friendly President Daniel Noboa. With three-quarters of the vote counted, about 60 percent of Ecuadorans had voted ‘no’ to lifting a longstanding ban on foreign bases. The rejection effectively blocks the US military from returning to an air base at Manta on the Pacific coast – once a hub for Washington’s anti-drug operations.

Referendum asks whether to lift constitutional ban as President Daniel Noboa seeks US help against cartels.

Count of a third of ballots show 60 percent rejection of the proposal to host foreign military bases.