Ecuador and the United States signed a new cooperation agreement, this time focused on combating drug trafficking, illegal fishing and migrant smuggling.
Referential image. Navy personnel next to drugs seized on the high seas, Manta, September 15, 2023.
President Guillermo Lasso’s six-day visit to the United States concluded with the signing of another cooperation agreement with Washington, the Foreign Ministry reported.
The new agreement is focused on confronting illicit transnational maritime activities, such as drug trafficking and organized crime, migrant smuggling, and illegal and unreported fishing on Ecuadorian coasts.
The announcement of this new agreement comes at a time when Lasso himself recognized the impact of Mexican drug cartels in Ecuador.
As part of the agreement, the United States Coast Guard will collaborate directly with the Ecuadorian Navy, and they will carry out combined maritime operations.
These types of operations are already carried out sporadically in the Ecuadorian coastal profile, but now they will be extended against suspicious vessels and stateless vessels or vessels considered without nationality, and with specific regulations on vessels and aircraft.
Both countries will work, according to the Foreign Ministry, on mechanisms to regulate the activities of personnel who temporarily visit Ecuador to provide training, training and provision of equipment to the Armed Forces.
After signing the agreement, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gustavo Manrique, said that “it reaffirms the commitment of the governments of Ecuador and the United States to fight against one of the common enemies of humanity: transnational organized crime.”
He explained that the agreement “strengthens the bilateral fight against nefarious activities,” such as money laundering and corruption.
