Rising Nationalism Threatens U.S. Anti-Drug Base in Ecuador

Rising Nationalism Threatens U.S. Anti-Drug Base in Ecuador

MANTA, Ecuador -- A decade ago, this was just another obscure, humid, Pacific coast fishing town, with a third-rate airport and a problem with narcotrafficking.

Today, the city is a regular stop for cruise ships, boasts a first-rate airport and is a key outpost in the United States' war on drugs. But the eight-year-old U.S. anti-drug presence here has both put Manta on the map and made the city a center of controversy.

The local U.S. anti-narcotrafficking facility "is a pretext for expansionism," charges attorney Miguel Moran, who believes that Washington and U.S. corporations want to control the region's natural resources.

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