Ecuador Cancels Plan to Trade Outdated Soviet Weapons for New Arms from the United States

QUITO (Reuters) - Facing a rapidly deteriorating security situation and the recent declaration of 22 criminal gangs as terrorist groups, Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa announced the cancellation of a plan to exchange outdated Soviet weapons for new arms from the United States. This decision was made after learning that the old weapons would have been sent to Ukraine, a conflict in which Ecuador did not want to be involved.

In January, President Noboa had initially announced that the United States would provide Ecuador with $200 million worth of new weaponry in exchange for the "junk" arms. However, to his surprise, it was later revealed that the United States intended to utilize the old arms in the armed conflict in Ukraine - a situation Ecuador vehemently opposed. President Noboa conveyed his concern during an interview with CNN, stating, "We do not want to take part, nor do we want to triangulate weapons for it. We can't go ahead with it."

Furthermore, in response to the criticism from the spokeswoman for the foreign ministry of Russia, which invaded Ukraine two years ago, President Noboa acknowledged the concerns, emphasizing the importance of their commercial partnership. He stated, "Russia is our third-largest commercial partner, and in this particular case they were right, we would have been triangulating arms and we won't do that," The President

On the other hand, a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Quito expressed their lack of information regarding the policy change, indicating that the cancellation came as a surprise to the United States. Despite this, several high-ranking U.S. officials have been engaging in discussions with Ecuador in recent weeks, with a focus on cooperation regarding security issues.

Russia recently lifted a ban on banana imports from five Ecuadorean businesses. Previously, Russia had cited sanitary issues with the shipments, but now appears to have resolved the matter, signaling potential progress in their trade relations.