Carlos Silva / Presidencia de la República / Flickr
Daniel Noboa believes that if Ecuadorians don’t re-elect him, Trump could help him stay in office
If Daniel Noboa had his way, Ecuador could become the 52nd state of the United States. This is neither absurd nor fanciful.
On March 18, one month before Ecuador’s scheduled presidential election, incumbent president and candidate for the highest office, Daniel Noboa, trailing in the polls behind leftist candidate Luisa Gonzalez, made a bold and unconventional move. Noboa issued a decree officially recognizing the U.S. dollar as Ecuador’s sole currency. The decree proposes that the country’s Congress pass a law reforming the Central Bank to prohibit the issuance of any other currency. This is despite the fact that the U.S. dollar has been Ecuador’s only legal tender since September 10, 2000.
But that’s not all. Unlike Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who strongly opposes the involvement of foreign troops in fighting drug cartels in her country, Noboa actively seeks to host foreign, primarily American, military forces in Ecuador, ostensibly to «fight drugs and crime».
In February 2024, Noboa ratified two military cooperation agreements with the United States, laying the groundwork for U.S. military operations in Ecuador.
In the midst of all this, he allocates a military base on the ecologically sensitive Galápagos Islands. On December 10, 2024, the «Comprehensive Security Project in the Island Region» and the «Guidelines for the Implementation of Cooperation Agreements between Ecuador and the United States» were approved. According to the agreement, «ships, military personnel, weapons, equipment and submarines may be stationed on this archipelago», which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.
According to CNN, on the mainland, in the coastal city of Manta, construction of a naval base with barracks and administrative offices to support sustained operations and U.S. military personnel is rapidly underway. CNN also reported that Ecuador’s Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with the Manta Port Authority to build a 150-meter pier and expand the existing port by more than 700 square meters. The projects will be supported by the United States.
«President Trump is firmly committed to strengthening bilateral security cooperation with Ecuador, including the recent agreement in Manta, and is considering expanding our joint efforts against transnational criminal organizations», CNN quoted U.S. National Security Council representative James Hewitt as saying.
As a «reward» for his services to the U.S., Noboa and his wife were seated in the front row at Trump’s inauguration and were received by him in Florida on March 29.
According to insider information, Noboa asked Trump to designate Ecuadorian armed groups as terrorist organizations, which would give the U.S. government the right to use military force abroad, in this case in Ecuador, to combat these gangs.
In addition, Noboa announced a «strategic alliance» with Erik Prince, a known Trump supporter and founder of the private military company Blackwater, ostensibly to fight crime and narco-terrorism.
Regarding Erik Prince, Noboa stated: «We are engaged in unconventional urban guerrilla war. He has experience. He is advising our armed forces, our police».
Blackwater gained notoriety in Baghdad in 2007 for killing civilians in Nisour Square. The mercenaries were imprisoned, but in 2020 Trump, a friend of Prince, pardoned them.
Does this mean that President Noboa is bringing mercenaries into the country? Ecuadorians have questions. In an interview with BBC News, the current president said: «We need more soldiers to fight this war».
The dangers of an overly militarized approach to Ecuador’s multifaceted crime problem have been acknowledged by the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). «An increased presence of U.S. forces on Ecuadorian territory may provoke public opposition from certain segments of the population who argue that unprecedented privileges and immunities for foreign military personnel undermine Ecuador’s legal jurisdiction and sovereignty», USSOUTHCOM stated.
Today, Ecuador is facing one of its most serious security crises. According to InSight Crime, Ecuador currently has the highest homicide rate in Latin America. Since Noboa’s victory in the October 2023 snap elections, Ecuador has become the most violent country in Latin America. In the first 50 days of 2025 alone, there were 1,300 homicides — 40% more than in the same period in 2023.
This increase is fueled by drug trafficking routes, territorial disputes, and alliances between local gangs and international drug traffickers. Mexican, Colombian, and Albanian cartels are increasingly taking advantage of weak government institutions, porous borders, and Ecuador’s strategic location between two major cocaine producers — Colombia and Peru.
In this context, the government has adopted a simplistic and demagogic rhetoric: the solution, according to the current president, lies in the intervention of foreign troops.
In 2022, 24,936 Ecuadorians illegally fled to the United States, and in 2024, this number increased to 124,023. Yet the White House does not raise the same outcry over them as it does over refugees from Venezuela or Cuba. Classic Case — Noboa is «our son of a bitch».
About one in five bananas imported by the United States comes from Ecuador. Noboa Trading, owned by the family of Ecuador’s president, is allegedly linked to cocaine exports to Europe, with drugs hidden in fruit shipments from the port of Guayaquil, according to journalist Andres Duran.
According to the European Commission, 57% of banana containers from Ecuador that reach Europe contain cocaine. Andres Duran suspects that the same problem applies to Ecuadorian banana shipments to the United States.
During the presidential debates on March 23, Luisa Gonzalez, candidate for the opposition coalition Citizen Revolution, asked Noboa: «Are you the owner of Noboa Trading, through which bananas were exported with drugs in 2020, 2022 and 2024, when you were already president? Five prosecutors have changed, and still no one knows the truth».
«I am not the owner of the company, but my family members are involved. Noboa Trading has cooperated in each of these cases, and this has been confirmed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office», Daniel Noboa replied evasively.
How much Ecuadorians believe him, and how much they want to feed consumers bananas with a hint of cocaine, will be revealed in the presidential elections on April 13.