QUITO, Dec 18, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The United States announced Wednesday a temporary deployment of Air Force personnel to Ecuador to combat drug trafficking in one of Latin America's biggest narcotics smuggling hubs.

The deployment comes amid a deepening standoff between the United States and Latin American oil producer Venezuela, whose leader Washington accuses of drug trafficking.

The US personnel will be deployed at Ecuador's Manta air force base, which served as a US base for a decade until 2009.

Ecuadoran voters in November overwhelmingly rejected a bid by President Daniel Noboa to lift the country's ban on foreign military bases.

According to the US embassy in Quito, the deployment is a "temporary operation with the Ecuadorian Air Force in Manta."

The "short-term joint effort" will "enhance the capacity of the Ecuadorian military forces to combat narco-terrorists, including strengthening intelligence gathering and anti-drug trafficking capabilities, and is designed to protect the United States and Ecuador from the threats we share," the embassy said.

Noboa, one of Trump's closest allies in Latin America, said the operation "will allow us to identify and dismantle drug trafficking routes, and subdue those who thought they could take over the country."

Noboa is attempting to roll back a wave of drug cartel violence that has turned what was once one of South America's safest countries into one of its deadliest.

The ports of Guayaquil and Manta have become key exit points for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru.

The right-wing Noboa has argued that Ecuador needs outside help to fight the gangs vying for control of trafficking routes.

The United States under Trump is aggressively moving to combat drug operations in Latin America.

At the heart of the campaign is a growing conflict with the hard-left government in Venezuela.

Massive US naval and air forces have been deployed in waters off Latin America and dozens of small boats allegedly running drugs have been bombed in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing at least 95 people so far.

Trump has also sought to pile economic pain on Venezuela by announcing a blockade of sanctioned oil tankers used to transport Venezuelan oil.