Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso announced yesterday to the country that he has decided to ratify the Cooperation Agreement with the United States for the aerial interception of drug planes, a few hours before the end of the bloodiest and most convulsive campaign in Ecuador’s history.

An electoral process marked by the assassination of the candidate Fernando Villavicencio and by the constant harassment of drug trafficking and organized crime against the democracy of the Andean country.

A team from the American FBI is already in Quito to participate in the investigations around the assassination, together with the local and Colombian police.

“We need this support to strengthen national security. We have to be more prepared and stronger. Organized crime is not going to stop us,” stressed Lasso, who in this way wants the military and police to have help from the US in the fight against transnational crime, thanks to “financial assistance, equipment for its operational capacity, maintenance , training, as well as logistics, command, control and communications support”.

The goal sought by the government is for its Air Force to have not only better equipment, but also better information to track the aircraft of criminal organizations.

Drug trafficking has made Ecuador the epicenter of its cocaine shipments to the US and Europe, as it is among the largest producers (Peru, Colombia and Bolivia) and due to the pressure to which they are subjected in those countries..

“With this agreement, the US and Ecuador will continue to fight together against transnational organized crime,” confirmed yesterday the US embassy in Quito, which also opted to “increase the capacity” of the National Police, the Coast Guard Command, and the judicial sector.

Ecuador wants to count on the US Intelligence and its advisers so that its Air Force can locate, identify, track and intercept civilian aircraft suspected of drug trafficking. The challenge is to make the new drug route as difficult as possible and facilitate the capture of the traffickers.

The big Mexican cartels, such as Sinaloa and Nueva Generación Jalisco, have entered into agreements with powerful local gangs to facilitate operations.

Experts consider that the closure of the US naval base in Manta, decreed by the government of Rafael Correa in 2009, weakened the fight against drug trafficking, which has multiplied as a result of the pandemic.

“This agreement differs from the previous one at the Manta Base, because in that case the equipment and operators were US military.

And now it’s all about advisers, financing, training and equipment. It is a cooperation so that Ecuadorian officials are the ones who implement the actions.

I have the impression that no government, including this one, would again dare to accept a base in the country. As is logical, good security mechanisms are required, but it is also important that they are not corrupted or corruptible,” says Michel Levi, coordinator of the Andean Center for International Studies for EL MUNDO..

In its fight against insecurity, the Lasso government also announced last week the purchase of almost 11,000 rifles, submachine guns and pistols from companies in Israel, Switzerland and Austria.