Manta is one of four military bases established by Washington in Latin America and the Caribbean under the guise of drug interdiction. An article in the Financial Times of London noted the cost of the four bases is less than that of the U.S. government’s earlier base in Panama, closed in 1999. A U.S. embassy official in Quito said U.S. forces based in Panama could "get down to Ecuador, but not much further south. Now [that] we’re in the area the entire time we can venture into Peru, Colombia, and over the Pacific Ocean."  
 
 
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