Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced the possible installation of a U.S.-controlled military base in the Galápagos Islands aimed at reinforcing anti-drug operations along the Pacific coast. The plan hinges on a referendum set for November that would amend Ecuador's constitution to lift the 2008 prohibition on foreign military bases.
Noboa's government describes the proposed site as a "control platform" for joint maritime and aerial surveillance, stressing that it would remain under Ecuadorian state supervision. The Galápagos, located roughly 1,000 kilometers off the mainland, sit along a major trafficking corridor where seizures have increased in recent years.
