"A blank check to demolish hard-won rights"

​​Presented under the justification of enhancing “security,” the proposals align with the United States' geopolitical interests — to expand its military footprint in the region. While framed as “security cooperation,” the measure to admit foreign military installations would alter Ecuador’s strategic position in the Andes and Caribbean. The referendum thus poses a fundamental question: whether Ecuador will open its territory to external military presence and influence.

The proposal to repeal the prohibition on foreign military bases directly affects Article 5 of the Montecristi Constitution, which defines Ecuador as a “territory of peace” and prohibits the establishment of foreign military bases or the ceding of national installations to external forces. Revoking this provision would enable the return of facilities such as the former US Forward Operating Base in Manta, closed in 2009 in accordance with the constitutional mandate. Such a development would reinsert Ecuador into US regional military operations at a time when the US is threatening Venezuela and Colombia and has extrajudicially killed fishermen from both countries amid a major military build up in the Caribbean. 

The referendum also seeks to establish a Constituent Assembly on a fast-track basis to draft a new constitution, replacing the Montecristi text, which was notable for innovations such as the recognition of the Rights of Nature. The proposed process raises concerns about the concentration of executive power and the weakening of institutional checks and balances. The Constitutional Court has already identified potential legal irregularities and temporarily suspended elements of the initiative. Despite this, the government proposes an assembly empowered to fully redraft the Constitution within a minimum 180-day period. This approach risks dismantling existing guarantees of social, economic, cultural, and human rights; environmental protections; the plurinational character of the state; and public stewardship of strategic sectors.

The Progressive International stands with the people of Ecuador in their struggle to uphold the constitutional protection against foreign garrisons; and resist a blank check to demolish hard‑won rights and democratic controls. Sustainable public security is achieved through sovereignty, social justice, and regional cooperation — not through the establishment of foreign military infrastructure. The determination of Ecuador’s constitutional future must rest solely with its people.