Ecuador rejects U.S. military bases in major defeat for President Noboa [View all]

Source: NPR

November 17, 2025 10:56 AM ET


GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador — Ecuadorians voted on Sunday to reject a package of referendum measures that would have allowed foreign military bases in the country. The result is seen as a sharp political setback for President Daniel Noboa, the 37-year-old conservative leader and close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The proposal was heavily backed by Noboa as a crucial step to confront drug traffickers and violent gangs. Homicide rates in some Ecuadorian cities are amongst the world's highest, as local gangs, backed by international trafficking cartels fight for territory. The president says roughly 70% of global cocaine flows through the country. Even so, voters decisively opposed the plan.

Voters also rejected measures to cut public funding for political parties, create a constitutional assembly to rewrite the country's constitution and reduce the size of Congress. For many, the vote was a referendum on Noboa's leadership. Rosita Guichimillo, a 48-year-old Quito homemaker, said she feared the constitutional revisions would place too much power in the president's hands.

"If he rewrites the constitution, he'll do it to serve himself … and ruin the country even more," Guichimillo said as she voted in the Ecuadorian capital under light showers.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/11/17/nx-s1-5610974/ecuador-referendum-u-s-military-bases-noboa