STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Some other news now. President Trump says drug traffickers operating out of Ecuador are, quote, "narco-terrorists." Ecuador's conservative president says that, too. So he's asking the United States for help, including a request for American military bases in his country, which is tricky because there's a ban on foreign forces in Ecuador. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports that voters will decide this weekend whether it's time to lift that prohibition.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTISTS: (Singing in non-English language).
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: A couple dozen demonstrators wearing white T-shirts with a big si - yes in Spanish - on the front vie for drivers' attention at this busy intersection in Guayaquil. The city is home to Ecuador's largest ports and the highest murder rate in the country.
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UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language).
KAHN: "We need all the help we can get," says 69-year-old Betty Duque (ph), waving a national flag. "Ecuador didn't used to be so dangerous," she says. "We need a change now."
BETTY DUQUE: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: "And with our young president, we're going to get it," she says.
Sandwiched between Peru and Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producers, Ecuador has become the major transit hub for cocaine heading to Europe and the U.S. International cartels working with local gangs now control great swaths of the country, especially this large port city and much of the Pacific coastline. The 37-year-old president, Daniel Noboa, heir to Ecuador's largest banana export business, has been campaigning hard for the referendum...
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
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KAHN: ...Like at this event at a Guayaquil university yesterday. "Ecuador can't fight the gangs alone," he tells the crowd.
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PRESIDENT DANIEL NOBOA: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: "With international help," he says, "we'll be able to improve our surveillance, react faster and even prevent crime." The Trump administration, which has been bombing small boats the U.S. claims are trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific, is eager to help and reestablish a presence in Ecuador.
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KRISTI NOEM: Good morning, everyone. My name is Kristi Noem. I am the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for the United States of America.
KAHN: DHS Secretary Noem visited Ecuador last July, pledging drug intelligence cooperation. Last week, she was back to meet the president and toured an old base the U.S. occupied until the former leftist leader pushed the U.S. out and instituted the foreign military ban. President Noboa has blamed that in part for the surge in violence. He's declared the country in a state of internal armed conflict, imposed several states of emergency and built a new maximum security prison for gang leaders, which initially lowered crime. But Michelle Maffei, an Ecuadorian security analyst, says more needs to be done for long-term success than just establishing U.S. bases and enforcement crackdowns.
MICHELLE MAFFEI: The country is not doing the work that it should be doing, and cooperation is just the cherry on top. It does help, but it's not the whole scope.
KAHN: She says Ecuador has to fortify its judicial system and fight corruption. Adela Vargas Murillo, an activist working on the No campaign, says voters have lost confidence in Noboa.
ADELA VARGAS MURILLO: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: "We don't believe him anymore," she says. "He keeps telling us this will work, but we don't see any real changes," she says. This year in Ecuador is on course to be the deadliest on record with homicides soaring.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Guayaquil, Ecuador.
(SOUNDBITE OF BONOBO'S "OUTLIER") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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