Sec. Noem traveled to Ecuador on Wednesday and met with President Noboa. Her two-day visit marks the second time Noem has visited the South American country this year. The officials discussed the possible installation of Homeland Security bases in the coastal cities of Manta and Salinas as part of Noboa’s efforts to combat organized transnational crime, given their strategic access to Pacific waters and already-available infrastructure.
Noboa and Noem toured an Ecuadorian Air Force base in Manta, Manabí, where the United States had a military drug-fighting presence from 1999 to 2009. At the time, the government of socialist former president and convicted fugitive Rafael Correa took control of the base. President Noboa and Sec. Noem reportedly held a private meeting at the base.
In 2008, the then-ruling socialists introduced a constitutional reform that prohibits the establishment of foreign military bases. Throughout 2025, Noboa’s administration has led efforts to promote a referendum on November 16 that will ask the Ecuadorian electorate if they agree with eliminating the foreign military base prohibition clause as well as a separate question asking if the Ecuadorian state should continue to finance political parties.
“The visit by the Secretary of Homeland Security aims to consolidate technical cooperation mechanisms between the security institutions of both countries and strengthen capabilities in the fight against transnational organized crime,” the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry said on social media.
After touring the Air Force base at Manta, Sec. Noem traveled to the city of Salinas, Santa Elena, where she joined President Noboa and his wife, Lavinia Valbonesi, for a horseback ride at the Ulpiano Páez air base. On Thursday, Sec. Noem inspected the Cosme Rennella Barbatto Military Aviation School to assess the possible installation of a U.S. base in the facility. Noboa published photos of the ride on his Instagram account, writing, “This is real. Let’s go after all those who were allowed to do whatever they wanted since 2008.”
President Noboa, 37, first took office in 2023 after winning a snap election to conclude the remainder of the term of his predecessor, conservative former President Guillermo Lasso. Noboa was reelected for a second, full four-year term in April. Since then, the U.S.-friendly Ecuadorian president has reached out to President Donald Trump to establish a security alliance and receive American help in the fight against gang crime and drug trafficking in Ecuador. Noboa met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April. Bloomberg reported in late October that Noboa is seeking a meeting with President Trump days before the November 16 referendum.
“Let’s remember that this is [Noem’s] second visit. We are here to discuss security cooperation issues. We are visiting this location [Manta] precisely to remember the close cooperation and assistance that the United States and Ecuador maintained in the fight against drug trafficking,” Ecuadorian Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo reportedly said on Wednesday.
Local outlets reported that the Ecuadorian Army has identified 11 clandestine drug trafficking air routes where drug-laden planes are shipping drugs toward Central America. The Ecuadorian newspaper La Prensa detailed that the routes, each of which has its own unique name in Spanish, are used to transport cocaine to Costa Rica and Guatemala, where the drug-trafficking planes refuel before continuing towards Mexico or the United States.
Unnamed Ecuadorian military sources explained that although the Armed Forces destroyed the clandestine airstrips, drug traffickers rebuild them in a matter of days, clearing the land “two or three days before the plane arrives.”
“The coasts of Manabí, Santa Elena, and Guayas are now the main points of departure and shipment for drugs, which explains the increase in violence and clashes between criminal gangs,” La Prensa reported.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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