Russian military experts, if they did not know exactly when, definitely knew that Ecuador would be replacing the Soviet weapons and equipment it has had since the 90s with modern American ones. It is clear that equipment wears out, becomes morally and physically obsolete and needs to be replaced. And as far as we know, Russian specialists have been holding relevant negotiations with Ecuadorian partners.
But times and governments change. And the change of power in one or another country affects, among other things, trade relations. Especially in Latin America, where the U.S. traditionally pursues a protectionist policy and holds a leading position. Back in Soviet and post-Soviet times, Russian official arms dealers considered it a great luck to sell at least something to the «American underbelly». With the «pink tide» such opportunities increased to some extent, and with the «low tide», of course, they decreased.
Ecuador is no exception. The coming to power of the pro-American president Daniel Noboa, who had to face (we have written about it many times) an unforeseen growth of well-organized and armed drug crime, demanded an urgent technical re-equipment of the country’s armed and police forces.
The Pentagon offered Ecuador, like all other Latin American countries that have had Soviet and Russian weapons and military equipment since the 1990s, to exchange them for «modern American» ones. So far, only the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have responded. Quito will send to the United States, according to some reports, six Russian military helicopters, long-range rocket launchers and air defense systems. Local media reports that the equipment dates back to the 1990s.
In exchange, Ecuador will receive «modern weapons to confront powerful drug trafficking gangs» that hold the country in a «suffocating grip».
Could Russia exchange old Soviet military equipment for new ones to the tune of $200 million just to keep the old ones out of the hands of Ukrainian militants? I think not.
But the Americans can, since we are talking about the war they are waging against Russia by the hands of Ukrainian neo-Nazis.
The Russian Foreign Ministry protested the Ecuadorian president’s decision, saying it violated a contract that stipulated Ecuador could not sell the equipment to third parties without Russia’s consent.
«Such a reckless decision was made by the Ecuadorian side under serious pressure from interested parties from outside», Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Izvestia.
That’s just the way it was. Especially since Kevin Sullivan, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South America, admitted on Ecuadorian television at the time: «This agreement is aimed at transferring equipment to the Ukrainian government, which is fighting against the Russian invasion on its territory».
The U.S. believed and believes that everything is allowed to them. First, the Pentagon needs the «scrap metal», as Noboa called the operating Soviet military equipment, not for melting, but for use in specific combat operations and against the population of Donbass.
Second, the U.S. will supply Ecuador with the same amount of the same «age» military equipment stale in U.S. warehouses to make room for more modern ones.
Thirdly, Ecuador will be provided with U.S. support staff, which will include specialists in liaison with the drug-trafficking community and in controlling the flow of cocaine in the right direction, including to Europe, Ukraine, and Russia.
Fourth, the most important thing for the U.S. is what Russia, and Ecuador along with it, loses from all this.
The Soviet «scrap metal» from Ecuador will be destroyed by Russian military in Ukraine, as well as HIMARS and other «scrap metal» supplied by the West. And when else Russia will get to the Ecuadorian market with its weapons is now unknown. Just as we do not know what, not only in terms of trade and economy, the refusal of Ecuadorian bananas will result in. We are talking about reputational damage.
«In connection with systematic detections in Ecuadorian bananas of dangerous quarantine object for Russia and EAEU member countries — Megaselia scalaris — Rosselkhoznadzor addressed the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Ecuador Mr. Franklin Danilo Palacios Marquez with a request to suspend from February 5 the certification of bananas of 5 Ecuadorian exporters “AGZULASA CIA. LTDA.”, “DON CARLOS FRUIT S.A.”, “AGROAEREO FRUIT EXPORT S.A.”, “ASOCIACION DE PRODUCCION AGROPECUARIA DE EL ORO ASOPROAGRORO”, “COMERCIALIZADORA DE BANANO DEL SUR COMERSUR CIA. LTDA”, which committed the largest number of violations», Rosselkhoznadzor said in a press release.
According to public data, Russia accounts for 21% of all banana exports from Ecuador. Only in the first 11 months of 2023, Ecuador exported to Russia bananas worth $690 million, on average for a month the country imported goods worth $63 million ($753.5 million a year).
And there is a paradox here. Our banana foreign trade buyers and sanitary inspectors, reacting quickly to the outrage of the military and diplomats, de facto helped banana tycoon Alvaro Noboa, father of Ecuador’s current president, to remove five competitors who were successfully trading with Russia. Noboa’s banana corporation, which, according to the tycoon, «has not sold a single box» of bananas to Russia, controls a number of companies, including the world-famous brand bananas Bonita, exports coffee and now includes more than 128 companies in dozens of countries.
Now its competitors will find it difficult, if not impossible, to find a buyer for bananas already grown under contract with Russia. And this is fraught with bankruptcy. Even during Daniel’s short presidency, his opponents believe, his father’s empire will grow and strengthen considerably, and Naboa Jr. won’t be poor.
I don’t know about Ecuador, which, according to some world media, risks losing an «important trading partner like Russia». But what South American country, after such an exchange of arms for bananas, would not think about the risks of contracting with Russia? I think it will take years and years for us to regain a reputation as a reliable trading partner.
Richard Salazar, director of ACORBANEC, one of the main banana exporters’ associations in Ecuador, was «surprised by Russia’s radical» decision. «This is a very important market for us», he said, “and a market that will be difficult to replace. But it will be even harder for us — Russian businessmen — to restore it. Russia has started buying bananas from India and will increase its imports, Rosselkhoznadzor said. The first shipment of bananas from India was sent to Russia in January, with the next one scheduled for late February, Rosselkhoznadzor said, adding that «the volume of Indian banana exports to the Russian market will increase». Did it make one happy or upset?
India is notorious for its unsanitary conditions, and where are the guarantees that no pests will sneak into its bananas? And what will happen if India gives up Russian weapons in favor of American ones? The Overton window to spoil India-Russia relations with its fake story about India’s refusal of arms supplies from Russia has already been opened by Reuters.
And this at a time when in the United States itself, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified «413 suspected or confirmed cases of lead poisoning» mostly among young children in 43 states. The FDA analyzed cinnamon added to Vanabanu baby apple puree supplied to the U.S. by Carlos Aguilera, an Ecuadorian cinnamon processing company. FDA analysis showed that the cinnamon was contaminated with high levels of lead and chromium. Medical professionals are in shock. Children are in the hospital. Mothers are crying. U.S. regulatory agencies are silent.
200 million dollars to Ecuador for Russian arms… And the State Department, according to Sputnik calculations, took over 750 million dollars from its ally Ecuador on bananas and carnations, while orchestrating it in such a way as to try to undermine confidence in Russia.