Us Faces Base Closure, Continues Central American Air Forces Modernisation Plans

摘要

Ecuadorian legislators approved a constitutional amendment on 1 April forbidding foreign military bases on the country's soil. While that measure is still subject to referendum, it casts further doubt on the US presence at Boy Alfaro Air Base in Manta, a key outpost for drug interdiction operations. In 2007, President Rafael Correa indicated he would not back renewal of a lease agreement that expires in November 2009, and officials at US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) began planning for the possibility that the base might be closed.