U.S. likely to lose base in Ecuador

QUITO , Ecuador, May 5 (UPI) -- Ecuador likely won't renew the contract allowing the U.S. military to run drug-surveillance flights from a base in the country, Ecuadoran leaders say.

President Rafael Correa has said the contract with the Pentagon for the use of the airbase in the country's north, set to expire in November 2009 and agreed upon by a previous administration, will not be renewed under his watch, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

Paco Velasco, a member of the Alianza Pais party, said that while Ecuador wants to rid the country of drugs, allowing U.S. forces at the Manta base sends the wrong message.

"A foreign military base here makes our armed forces look bad, and it makes our nation look like it's not capable of taking care of itself," Velasco said.

The leftist Correa and his supporters have called the base an infringement on Ecuador's sovereignty, while some even accuse the United States of using the base to launch flights aimed at capturing or killing leftist rebels in neighboring Colombia, an allegation Washington denies.