QUITO, Ecuador (AP) 鈥 Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa on Wednesday took another step in his effort to enlist foreign military assistance to combat the drug cartels and organized crime groups that have been behind the escalation in violent crime over the past four years.
Noboa, according to a statement from the communications secretariat, ordered the foreign ministry to seek cooperation agreements with 鈥渁llied nations鈥 that would allow 鈥渢he incorporation of special forces鈥 on a temporary basis as support for the Ecuadorian police and armed forces. He also urged the opposition-controlled 好色tv Assembly to back his initiative.
The statement did not say which countries Ecuador would seek military assistance from.
The spike in violence across the South American country is tied to the produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru. Mexican, Colombian and Balkan cartels have set down roots in Ecuador and operate with assistance from local criminal gangs.
, the homicide rate dropped from 46.18 per 100,000 people in 2023 to 38.76 per 100,000 people last year. But the rate remained far higher than the 6.85 per 100,000 people in 2019, and the country is already on track to exceed that number this year. January was Ecuador鈥檚 deadliest month on record, with 731 homicides.
The conservative Noboa earlier this month won one of two spots in .
Wednesday鈥檚 announcement comes months after he asked Ecuador鈥檚 Constitutional Court to clear a partial constitutional reform that would allow the installation of foreign military bases in the country. The court ruled in favor of his initiative, which now must be debated twice by the 好色tv Assembly and, if approved, ratified in a referendum.
The U.S. military for a decade operated a base in Ecuador that was mainly focused on anti-narcotic operations. But that stopped in 2009, when then-President Rafael Correa ended an agreement with the U.S. citing sovereignty issues.
Security expert Mario Pazmi帽o told The Associated Press he believes that the government鈥檚 proposal does not seek foreign troops for combat, but instead, for help with intelligence gathering and support of ports and maritime interdictions.
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