After meeting at Carondelet Palace, the seat of the executive branch, Ecuadorian Defense Minister Luis Lara and the US official reported that the two countries will soon sign a memorandum of understanding to define cooperation programs in the security field.
According to Lara, a technical team made up of officers from the Ecuadorian Armed Forces and representatives from the US Cooperation Office was formed to prepare the document, although analysts have doubts that Ecuador’s foreign policy is in line with Washington.
The military official pointed out that the goal is to get the United States to support the South American country’s defense and security efforts for the next seven years.
For his part, Erickson referred to the meeting with Lasso and said that the economic impact of the El Niño climate phenomenon, the environment and cyber defense were also discussed.
“I am confident that these meetings lay the foundation for a stronger relationship with the United States,” added the North official, who attended a bilateral defense meeting the day before.
His presence in Quito is part of numerous visits to Ecuador by United States diplomatic officials, members of Congress, as well as senior military commanders from the Department of Defense and the Southern Command, which have drawn criticism of the Lasso government.
For former Ecuadorian Deputy Foreign Minister Fernando Yépez, the current president’s foreign policy will be remembered as utterly wrong, haphazard, alien to the country’s sovereignty and dignity, centered on and subservient to the United States, detached from national interests and obligations .
In a recent interview with Radio Pichincha, Yépez added that public policy should be determined sovereignly by Ecuador and that, in line with the country’s interests and reality, recipes should not be bought from other places, as Lasso did.
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