Ecuador, Colombia and the U.S. form alliance to fight drug trafficking; Sea level rises rapidly with El Niño; City removes homeless and informal vendors

Military officials from Ecuador, Colombia and the United States met Thursday in Esmeraldas Province to plan a coordinated offensive against drug traffickers. According to Ecuador Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo, the objective of the new mission is to “block drug trafficking routes and dismantle the logistics of the cartels” that transport drugs across the Ecuador-Colombia border.

Director of the U.S. Southern Command General Francis Donovan, who hosted the meeting, said the U.S. would be a “full partner” in supplying personnel, materiel, technical support and intelligence resources to the project.” He said the three-nation coalition would establish a base of operations near the border to battle the drug cartels.

Military officials from Ecuador and Colombia met Thursday with U.S. Southern Command General Francis Donovan near Esmeraldas.

“The Colombia-Ecuador border is a geographic transit point of illegal drugs that the cartels have exploited for years,” Donovan said. “Today we are changing the rules of the game.”

Donovan acknowledged that the recent change of government in Colombia made the coalition possible. “This joint mission was made possible with the election of Abelardo de la Espriella and his decision to join with Ecuador and United States in confronting the enemy, which are the drug cartels.”

Loffredo said that the anti-drug base would be operated jointly by Ecuador and Colombia and would not be under direct U.S. control.

Coastal sea level rises rapidly as El Niño develops
Since the beginning of August, the sea level on Ecuador’s coast has risen from 25 to 43 centimeters above normal. Ecuador’s Committee for the Regional Study of the El Niño said the rise was an indication of the “historic strength” of the current El Niño.

“Even during the strongest El Niño weather phenomena of the past, we have not seen this rate of sea level rise,” the committee said in a bulletin. “In addition to providing a warning of weather-related threats that lie ahead, the rise of water level poses an immediate threat of flooding for low-lying areas along the coast.”

With the rising water levels, the committee warned that storms and high waves could flood structures and over wash roadways near the shore.

In comparing the recent sea level rise to that of the devastating 1997-1998 El Niño, the committee said it is “happening at a much earlier stage” in the development process. “In the 1997-1998 event, we reached a sea level rise of 45 centimeters but that came in October, not in August,” the committee’s bulletin said. “The sea level will continue to rise with the current El Niño and reach historic levels later in the year.”

City removes homeless and informal vendors
Cuenca’s Citizen Guard launched a campaign Tuesday to remove homeless people from public spaces, concentrating on bridges and parks. On Thursday, Guard Commander Guillermo Cobo said that more than 100 people had been “dislodged” and that the campaign would continue indefinitely.

Cobo said that informal vendors, especially windshield washers and vendors who block sidewalks, are also being warned and removed.

According to Cobo, people camped in public areas pose a threat to the public. “We are not insensitive to conditions of the homeless but there are violent and anti-social people among them who have attacked and harassed residents in the areas where they camp,” he said. “We receive many complaints about aggressive beggars in public areas.”

Cobo said the homeless that are removed are provided information about private and public services that offer shelter and food.