Ecuador Voters Crush Right-Wing Push to Allow Return of US Military Bases

“It is, to date, the Noboa government’s biggest electoral defeat.”

Ecuadorians celebrate referendum victory -- Image via video screenshot on X

By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams

Ecuador’s voters on Sunday delivered a major blow to right-wing President Daniel Noboa by decisively rejecting the proposed return of foreign military bases to the South American country’s soil—including installations run by the United States.

Around two-thirds of voters opposed the measure with most ballots tallied, a result that was widely seen as a surprise. Voters also rejected a separate effort to rewrite the country’s progressive 2008 constitution, which enshrined strong labor and environmental rights.

The stinging defeat for Noboa, an ally of US President Donald Trump, comes as the United States carries out an aggressive military buildup and deadly airstrike campaign in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific—and weighs a direct attack on Venezuela. The BBC reported that the Trump administration “had hoped the referendum would pave the way to opening a military base in Ecuador, 16 years after it was made to close a site on its Pacific coast.”

“The former US military base on Ecuador’s Pacific coast was closed after left-wing President Rafael Correa decided not to renew its lease and pushed for the constitutional ban,” the outlet noted.

Correa celebrated Sunday’s results in a social media post, expressing hope that the vote would mark “the beginning of a definitive constitutional stability for the country.”

“Our constitution is one of the best in the world; we just need to comply with it,” he wrote.

The vote followed a recent trip to Ecuador by US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a prominent figure in the Trump administration’s lawless assault in immigrants in the United States. The Trump administration and Noboa’s government have ramped up cooperation efforts in recent months, and both governments have unleashed military forces on their own citizens, illegally repressed protests, and carried out enforced disappearances and other grave human rights violations.

During her visit to Ecuador earlier this month, Noem toured the site of what Noboa’s office described as a potential US military base in the port city of Manta.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) said in a statement late Sunday that “by inviting direct US military involvement and permanent presence in military bases—framed as a partnership to combat drug trafficking and organized crime—Noboa has tied the country’s safety and sovereignty to Washington’s regional ambitions.”

“Today’s ‘no’ vote therefore underscores widespread public unease with that approach and reflects the Ecuadorian people’s skepticism toward the government’s heavy reliance on the Trump administration’s support,” CEPR continued. “More generally, this vote raises questions about the effects and popularity of the last few years of security rapprochement and cooperation between Ecuador and the United States, which include, among other agreements, a Statute of Forces Agreement signed in 2023 that enables the presence of—and grants immunity to—US forces in Ecuador.”

“It is, to date, the Noboa government’s biggest electoral defeat,” the group added.

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

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