(NSI News Source Info) QUITO, Ecuador - March 27, 2009: Ecuador will transform a military base now used by U.S. forces into a center for its operations on the Colombian border when American personnel leave in November, local media reported March 24. 
Ecuador's soldiers stand next to an arsenal found on Friday during military operations in Tobar Donoso, some 160 km north of Quito, near to the border with Colombia. The arsenal was destroyed, officials said.
The Manta Air Base on Ecuador's Pacific coast is currently a key logistics hub for Washington's fight again South American drug traffickers.
But Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, has indicated his country will not renew the base's 10-year lease when it expires later this year.
Ecuador's joint commander-in-chief, Fabien Varela, told local television station Ecuavisa the armed forces plan to use Manta as a platform for air force reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft operating near the Colombian frontier.
"In this case the armed forces that are deployed on the long and wide northern frontier (with Colombia) would be better synergized, coordinated, producing better operational results."
Quito and Bogota broke off diplomatic relations a year ago over a Colombian military attack on a Colombian FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed 25 people. Since then, Ecuador has been beefing up its border region.
Ecuador's soldiers stand next to an arsenal found on Friday during military operations in Tobar Donoso, some 160 km north of Quito, near to the border with Colombia. The arsenal was destroyed, officials said.
The Manta Air Base on Ecuador's Pacific coast is currently a key logistics hub for Washington's fight again South American drug traffickers.
But Ecuador's leftist president, Rafael Correa, has indicated his country will not renew the base's 10-year lease when it expires later this year.
Ecuador's joint commander-in-chief, Fabien Varela, told local television station Ecuavisa the armed forces plan to use Manta as a platform for air force reconnaissance and unmanned aircraft operating near the Colombian frontier.
"In this case the armed forces that are deployed on the long and wide northern frontier (with Colombia) would be better synergized, coordinated, producing better operational results."
Quito and Bogota broke off diplomatic relations a year ago over a Colombian military attack on a Colombian FARC rebel camp inside Ecuador that killed 25 people. Since then, Ecuador has been beefing up its border region.
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