Return to the Fold: Ecuador in the Geopolitical Orbit of the United States, 2017-2025

Abstract

Since 2017, Ecuador has resumed close geopolitical and military alignment
with the United States, following the collapse of Rafael Correa’s sovereignty
project. This shift began with Lenín Moreno and deepened under the
governments of Guillermo Lasso and Daniel Noboa. Under the guise of
combating threats such as drug trafficking, migration, and Chinese influence,
Washington promoted the growing militarization of the Ecuadorian
state, channeled through Military and Security Assistance, the return of
agencies such as USAID, and the signing of the SOFA agreement, which grants privileges to US forces on national territory. Noboa also declared an internal
armed conflict and promoted constitutional reforms that open the door
to foreign bases. The text argues that Ecuador has been reconfigured as a client
state, functional to the strategic interests of the US, in a context of global rivalry
with China and the consolidation of Pan-Americanism as a doctrine of regional
control.