Right-wing Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa has been eager to curry favor in Washington D.C, even as his “iron fist” security policies violate human rights under both domestic and international law.
Noboa is doubling down on US cooperation in security operations, Even as his policy fails to deliver results. Ecuador is on track to experience its 2nd highest homicide rate in recorded history.
Despite this, Noboa is effectively asking for a US military base on Ecuadorian soil. This violates Ecuador’s constitution.
Nonethless, he has all but handed operational control over to US operators at the Taura Airforce base in Guayas province, about 45 minutes from the coastal city of Guayaquil.
In late 2025, voters overwhelmingly rejected Noboa’s attempts to pass a Constitutional referendum that would have overturned a ban on US military bases in the country.
But Noboa isn’t letting that stop him. US Marines, aircraft, and trainers have been arriving to the base in recent weeks, even establishing perimeter controls, and re-designing the compound.
On September 8, Ecuadorian Commander Gen. Mauricio Salazar Machuca sent an official letter to the Joint Command, demanding that the base remain under Ecuadorian control. Noboa had him removed from office two days later.
Meanwhile, US military presence in the country has only expanded, despite the fact that journalists and human rights groups have identified cases of extrajudicial killings, torture, and sexual abuses as part of security crackdowns.
US-assisted strikes have also killed at least two dozen civilians, including fishermen on boats in the Pacific Ocean. Joint operations also destroyed a dairy farm near the Colombian border in March. US officials falsely claimed the site was a drug-processing compound.
US actions in the country also almost certainly violate the Leahy Law, which prohibits the US Department of Defense to provide assistance to countries that commit human rights violations.
But the law isn’t stopping Trump either.
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