Ecuador, Peru & Bolivia

Assessment

Ecuador is the front line of the US maritime campaign: the Noboa government defended the sinking of three vessels on Sept 5 as joint anti-drug work, Rubio announced 45 million dollars in security funding plus additional naval vessels in Quito on Sept 9 and was decorated with the Gran Cruz de la Orden Nacional al Merito, and on Sept 10 Noboa removed air force commander Mauricio Salazar by Executive Decree 496, two days after Salazar asked in writing for clear legal rules governing temporary US Air Force flights at Taura air base. Peru's Fujimori government published Supreme Decree 128-2026 on Sept 6 declaring a 60-day emergency in five maximum-security prisons, and interior minister Cesar Astudillo is due before the Chamber of Deputies on Sept 17 to answer 27 questions on the crime wave after a Sept 10 interpellation vote. Bolivia's Paz is governing under the aftermath of the June 20 blockade emergency, with an IMF programme and a proposed 1.5 billion dollar fuel-supply arrangement with Washington. No further escalation in any of the three countries was verified between Sept 14 and Sept 15.