QUITO: On Sunday, Ecuador’s Electoral Council approved the holding of a referendum in November for citizens to decide whether to allow foreign military bases in the South American country, part of President Daniel Noboa’s plan to combat drug trafficking.
The referendum will be held November 16 and will include another initiative to eliminate a provision requiring a portion of state funds to be allocated to political parties.
“We approve the call, guidelines, operational plan, budget, risk and contingency matrix, and calendar for the 2025 Referendum,” Diana Atamaint, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), posted on X.
Noboa has said that drug trafficking gangs operate through international networks, so it is necessary to act jointly with other countries to effectively combat them. The United States has announced that it will maintain strong cooperation with the Ecuadorean government in its fight against criminal organizations.
But Ecuador’s opposition groups say foreign military presence alone will not solve the country’s security problems and that the government needs a clear plan to combat crime.
The coastal city of Manta, on the Pacific Ocean, hosted the US military base for a decade until 2009. Since 2008, Ecuador’s Constitution has prohibited foreign military bases in the country, following a decision by leftist President Rafael Correa not to renew the permits.
Earlier this year, the former president said on his X account the move would be “an insult to our public forces and an assault to our sovereignty.”
“We do not need foreign soldiers. We need government,” he said.
Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council
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Ecuador to vote in November on whether to allow foreign military bases, says Electoral Council
- The US has announced that it will maintain strong cooperation with the Ecuadorean government in its fight against criminal organizations
- Ecuador hosted a US military base for a decade until 2009 in the coastal city of Manta of the Pacific Ocean
UK to cut protections for refugees under asylum ‘overhaul’
- PM Starmer announced the cuts amid mounting pressure in the face of soaring support for the hard right
- More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year in the UK
LONDON: Britain will drastically reduce protections for refugees under plans to overhaul its asylum system, the Labour government said on Saturday.
The measures were announced as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure over irregular migration in the face of soaring support for the hard right.
“I’ll end UK’s golden ticket for asylum seekers,” interior minister Shabana Mahmood declared in a statement.
Presently, those given refugee status have it for five years, after which they can apply for indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship.
But Mahmood’s ministry, known as the Home Office, said it would cut the length of refugee status to 30 months.
That protection will be “regularly reviewed” and refugees will be forced to return to their home countries once they are deemed safe, it added.
The ministry also said that it intended to make those refugees who are granted asylum wait 20 years before applying to be allowed to live in the UK long-term, instead of the current five.
The Home Office called the proposals the “largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times.”
Starmer, elected last summer, is under pressure to stop migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats from France, something that also troubled his Conservative predecessors.
More than 39,000 people, many fleeing conflict, have arrived this year following such dangerous journeys — more than for the whole of 2024 but lower than the record set in 2022.
The crossings are helping fuel the popularity of Reform, led by firebrand Nigel Farage, which has led Labour by double-digit margins in opinion polls for most of this year.
Asylum claims in Britain are at a record high, with some 111,000 applications made in the year to June 2025, according to official figures.
