Speculation Continues on Relocation of Manta Air Base
At the end of July 2008, Ecuador formally notified the United States that it will not renew the United States' ten-year agreement to use the Manta air base as a "Forward Operating Location" when it expires in November 2009. The United States has therefore "officially" known of the need to find a new location for the air base for six months and "unofficially" has been aware of its potential closing since Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's election in 2006. Yet no final decision has been made about where to relocate the base. It now falls on the Obama administration to decide where to station the AWACS, P-3 and other sophisticated aircraft that were carrying out drug surveillance missions from Manta. Despite the Colombian government's firm denial of the possibility that these assets might move to Colombian territory, speculation on the matter persists in Colombia. Below is a translation of an article that appeared today in Colombia's El Espectador newspaper entitled The United States has not determined the relocation of the Manta air base, it could be in Colombia.
The U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador, Heather Hodges, reiterated that her country's intention is to remove all the military personnel that have been deployed for years in Manta. This exit would possibly happen before next November. And the United States still has not found an alternative to replace the anti-narcotics base in Manta, from where it must leave before November. As a result, since the middle of last year, the United States initiated a consultation process with various Latin American countries, among them Colombia, in order to relocate the military base that is now in Ecuador. "What are we going to do in order to replace this possibility? We still do not know," signaled the Ambassador in Quito, Hodges. November is the end of the contract in which Ecuador had authorized for ten years the utilization of one of its bases for the U.S. fight against drugs. President Rafael Correa did not renew the contract and promoted a constitutional prohibition that denies the existence of foreign bases on Ecuadorian territory. "I have to highlight and recognize the immense respect the United States had for our decision (...) They have offered to remove the base in November 2009," said Correa on January 15, in his annual address to the nation. Meanwhile, since the Colombian government became aware of the United States' hope to put the Manta base in Colombia, it has ruled out that possibility. "There is not going to be a base in Colombia. This has already been ruled out. It is ruled out by the United States, and it is ruled out by us," said [Defense Minister Juan Manuel] Santos a few months ago. However, in the middle of a fight against narcotrafficking, the possible installation of a military center in the country is not ruled out. And this idea becomes more important because it would appear that the Uribe government's idea is to improve relations with the new commander-in-chief, Barack Obama. During the government of his predecessor, George W. Bush, there was much speculation about the possible arrival of this base in Colombia, taking into account that Colombia is a strategic point of entrance to Venezuela, with whose president the United States does not have very good relations.