(Vatican Radio) Ecuador's President Rafael Correa is determined to downsize the US
Military presence at the US Embassy in the capital, Quito. Political feathers were
ruffled after it was revealed that four members of the US Armed Forces were aboard
an Ecuadorian military helicopter, which came under fire last October, close to the
Border with neighboring Colombia.
An economist by training, part of which was
in the United States, President Correa is not an avid fan of Washington. He's claiming
the current US military presence at its embassy adds up to almost 50 personnel and
that's far to many. A spokesman at the US Embassy in Quito begs to differ, explaining
there are about twenty US Defence Department employees there.
Since becoming
President in 2008 Rafael Correa, has distanced himself from the United States.
In
2009 Ecuador refused to renew an agreement which had previously allowed the US to
use its territory as a base from which military flights conducted surveillance operations
on illicit drug trafficking operations. Listen to this report from James Blears: