US military aircraft have been repeatedly detected at the Taura military base in Ecuador since June, an AFP flight data analysis showed, as the two countries step up cooperation against the drug trade.
Ecuador, once one of Latin America’s safest countries, has become a key gateway to international markets for cocaine smuggled from neighboring Colombia and Peru.
Washington has sent troops and military aircraft to the nation to combat a surge in violence linked to the cocaine trade.
At the Taura military base near Guayaquil, around 20 flights involving some 10 different aircraft belonging to the US Air Force or Marines were detected arriving or departing between early June and mid-October, data from air traffic tracking platforms AirNav Radar and Flightradar24 showed.
The flights included military transport aircraft (C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster), multi-use V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and Black Hawk light assault helicopters.
Several transport aircraft made return trips between the base and the United States, their flight paths showed.
In the US, some landed in North Carolina, at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
They also made stopovers in Puerto Rico and Panama, as well as Dover, Delaware.
– ‘Shield of the Americas’ –
Two Black Hawk helicopters were also detected at the Taura base in mid-July and early September.
Ecuador’s defence ministry had announced in mid-August that the US would deploy three such aircraft in the country.
Ecuador is one of 14 Latin American nations allied to US President Donald Trump that have joined his anti-cartel “Shield of the Americas,” aimed at combatting drug trafficking and narco violence in the region.
In September, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Ecuador as “one of our closest security partners in the region” that has pressed the fight against “narco-terrorists” who have transformed the country into one of Latin America’s most violent.
Ecuador’s Taura military base, which is the country’s only base used exclusively for military purposes, also appears to be expanding.
Satellite images analysed by AFP show earthworks under way since August, and possibly as early as July, with vegetation cleared across several hectares in two areas to the north-east of the base.
Vegetation was also cleared along several dozen metres on either side of the runway and adjacent taxiways between late June and mid-August, to an extent not seen in previous years.
Dozens of structures were also installed at the base between late June and mid-October.
They are consistent in size with rapidly deployable modular tents, sometimes used for storage, logistics or temporary accommodation.
A larger structure, whose dimensions and shape are consistent with a retractable hangar tent measuring approximately 40 metres long and 20 metres wide, was also installed in recent months.
