Your base or mine? Dec 19th 2006 | MANTA From The Economist print edition A looming fight over the drug war
IT IS a little slice of middle America on the coast of Ecuador. At any given time, some 250 American servicemen live in college-style dormitories at an airstrip by the Pacific Ocean. Almost all their food is flown in from the United States. Their base is the only place in town with potable water. An additional 50 Americans employed by DynCorp, an American contractor, live in the nearby town of Manta. DynCorp also employs 150 locals. The Americans are there to fly and maintain a small fleet of aeroplanes, including AWACS, which reconnoitre the skies from the eastern Pacific to the Caribbean searching for signs of drug trafficking. The Americans set up the base (technically "a forward operating location") at Manta in 1999 to replace facilities in the former Panama Canal Zone. But for how much longer will it continue? Rafael Correa, who takes office as Ecuador's new president next month, says he will not allow the Americans to stay once their ten-year lease runs out in 2009. The Americans, who spent $71m improving the runway (which is also used by civil aircraft and Ecuador's air force), are eager to stay. Though few of them speak Spanish, they do their best to get on with the locals, training firemen and doing other community work. Lieut-Colonel Javier Delucca, the head of the American detachment, says their presence contributes around $6.5m a year to the local economy. Jorge Zambrano, Manta's mayor, says the figure "seems high". While welcome, the jobs the Americans provide are not crucial to the town, he adds. Manta's hopes are set on a contract under which Hutchison Ports, a Hong Kong company, will invest some $500m to expand the city's deep-water port. The plan is to increase its capacity to 1.6m TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units, the standard measure of container traffic) over the next decade or so, according to Paul Gallie, Hutchison's boss in Ecuador. It handled just 40,000 TEUs in 2005. Mr Correa says he wants to expand the airport, too, making it a hub for traffic between South America and Asia. But this is compatible with the American operation, which involves little more than two flights a day. The new president is a friend of Venezuela's anti-American leader, Hugo Chávez. He criticised Colombia's government, a staunch American ally, for its decision in December to resume aerial spraying of drug crops close to its southern border with Ecuador. At home, Mr Correa plans to take on his country's traditional politicians (by calling a constituent assembly) and foreign oil companies (by raising their taxes). He plans to visit Colombia's president, Álvaro Uribe, on December 21st. That may give an indication of how many battles he proposes to fight at once. About sponsorship Copyright © 2006 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
