Ecuador’s voters have seemingly rejected a proposal to allow the return of foreign military bases with the stated mission of helping the South American nation combat drug cartels.
With 80% of votes counted, just over 60% of voters said “No” to the measure.
The main draw is that Ecuador is currently in a full scale armed conflict with cartel gangs in its Western costal regions (which the gangs started very publicly), and unfortunately, it’s apparently losing. American money is already the only thing keeping the war effort funded at the moment, so some people are on board with direct military support to turn the tide as well. Obviously, we’ve seen more than enough reasons the US shouldn’t be trusted with this, but I can understand the appeal to at least some people.