A portion of the airport was used until July 2009 by the Air Forces Southern Air Force component of the United States Southern Command, for operations against illegal cocaine trafficking in northwestern South America. It was formally known as Forward Operating Location Manta. In 1999, the U.S. signed a ten-year agreement with then Ecuadorean PresidentJamil Mahuad allowing the U.S. to station up 475 military personnel at Manta, rent-free. USAF AWACSE-3 and United States NavyP-3 Orion aircraft, supported by about 300 US military personnel, operated from the base to monitor air traffic in the area. The U.S. aircraft based at Manta fed surveillance information to the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West. The aircraft at the base flew about 100 missions per month looking for drug-running boats departing Colombia. In 2007, the flights led to about 200 cocaine seizures, totaling about 230 tons. The flights accounted for about 60 percent of U.S. drug interdiction in the eastern Pacific. From before his election, President Rafael Correa stated that he would not renew the agreement that allowed the United States access to the base when it expires in November 2009, and commented that "We can negotiate with the U.S. about a base in Manta, if they let us put a military base in Miami..." . On March 19, 2008, the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly voted to outlaw the installation of any foreign military bases in Ecuador. On July 26, 2008 Ecuador's Foreign Ministry formally notified the U.S. embassy that the U.S. lease on the base would not be renewed. Admiral James Stavridis, chief of the U.S. Southern Command stated on April 21, 2008 that there were no plans to find a replacement drug-interdiction air base in South America if Ecuador declined to renew the lease of Manta. Instead, the U.S. military would use existing air bases in El Salvador, Curaçao, and Key West, Florida for drug-surveillance flights. Other bases in the continental mass have been posited as candidates for a replacement. The most credible claim of a country likely to host such a base is probably Colombia, whose base in Puerto Salgar recently entered a process of recertification by the US military. On April 14, 2009, U.S. ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield announced that the base would be relocating from Manta to a location somewhere in Colombia. Said Brownfield, "Colombia and the U.S. are collaborating on efforts against illegal drugs. Part of this collaboration, without doubt, requires access to facilities between both countries." As of July 2009, the U.S. was negotiating with Colombia to use Palanquero Air Base in Puerto Salgar as Manta's replacement. The last U.S. military anti-narcotics surveillance mission from Manta was flown on July 17, 2009. In 2008 a new constitution was adopted, which among other things declares Ecuador a peaceful nation and forbid hosting foreign military bases. In 2014, the Security Cooperation Office based in the US embassy was shut down, forcing some 20 US military personnel to leave the country. In August 2018 it was reported that a new Security Cooperation Office would be established. Ecuadorean Defense Minister Oswaldo Jarrin described this as the latest move by President Lenin Moreno’s government to depart form the policies from his leftist predecessor Rafael Correa. Jarrin was careful to stress that the new entity would not violate the country’s current constitution, which was approved under Correa to ban all presence of foreign military bases in Ecuador. “There will be a plane that will allow us to share intelligence. It will stay here for three or four days and then return. So in no way it means that a new military base is being established,” the minister said. He added that due to this arrangement the Ecuadorean Air Force would be handling the cooperation program.
