Ecuador's electoral council approves referendum on foreign military bases

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador's electoral council on Saturday approved President Daniel Noboa's request to hold a nationwide referendum on constitutional changes, as his government seeks more tools to fight drug-related violence. The proposed questions would ask voters whether to eliminate a constitutional prohibition on foreign military bases and whether the state should no longer have an obligation to fund political parties. Noboa had issued a decree earlier in the week that also called for voters to consider rewriting the constitution by convening a constituent assembly.

On Friday, Ecuador's Constitutional Court suspended the request for voters to decide on a constituent assembly as it reviews several lawsuits filed against the move. But Noboa issued a second decree on Saturday calling again for a referendum on a constituent assembly. Salim Zaidan, a constitutional lawyer in Ecuador, said the move could give the electoral council, which has asserted that the country is preparing for an election, the power to block any efforts by the constitutional court to stop the referendum. “Noboa is trying to elude the court's efforts to control” the referendum, Zaidan said.

Noboa, 37, was elected earlier this year to a second term. The conservative politician, heir to one of the nation's largest fortunes, has pushed hard-line policies against drug cartels that include militarizing some of the nation’s most violent cities, suspending some civil liberties and declaring drug gangs enemy combatants.

Located between Colombia and Peru, Ecuador was once one of the safest countries in South America. But homicide rates have tripled since 2020, as drug gangs fight for control over smuggling routes along the Pacific coast and use Ecuadorian ports to ship Colombian cocaine to Mexico. The gangs have also sought to influence local politics by assassinating city council members and a presidential candidate who ran against Noboa in a special election two years ago.

Noboa has said he would like to increase military cooperation with the United States, which ran a base near the city of Manta until its lease expired in 2009. A 2008 constitution drafted under leftist former President Rafael Correa prohibited foreign militaries from operating bases in Ecuador.

The referendum questions are part of Noboa's broader drive to reshape institutions to strengthen the state’s fight against organized crime. Critics warn that the moves could deepen executive control over political life and civil liberties, while supporters argue the changes could provide authorities with needed tools to confront traffickers and criminal networks. The electoral council’s approval, contingent on ongoing legal and constitutional review, signals the latest stage in a long-running political struggle over how Ecuador should balance security, democracy and foreign influence.