International Conference for the Abolition of Foreign

UNCLAS QUITO 000420

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV EC PREL MARR MASS
SUBJECT: International Conference for the Abolition of Foreign
Military Bases to Be Held in Ecuador, March 5-9



1. The International No Bases Network (INBN) will hold an
International Conference for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases
in Ecuador, March 5-9, 2007. They expect some 2,000 activists to
attend the conference, which will be held in Quito March 5-7, with a
March 8 caravan from Quito to Manta, site of the U.S. military's
Forward Operating Location (FOL). The March 8 events, keyed to
International Women's Day, will include a media day followed by a
demonstration in Manta on March 9. The organizers, which include
several prominent U.S. NGOs, have begun to brief the Ecuadorian and
international media of their plans for the conference. They claim
that President Rafael Correa and Defense Minister Lorena Escudero
will speak at the conference in Quito, and that the mayor of Quito
will hold a special session for the attendees. The Embassy is
taking proactive steps to counter the conference's anti-U.S. base
and anti-U.S. military propaganda campaign.


2. According to their website (no-bases.org) the aim of this
international network is "the closure of foreign military bases
around the world," and the conference goal is to "come up with a
concrete plan of action." In a 2/22 briefing for foreign media in
Quito, attended by AP, Reuters, EFE and CNN among others, INBN
organizers explained their overall mission for the conference. The
theme is "The U.S.'s New Global Imperialism through Military Bases,"
and they said that U.S. plans for a "new military incursion" in Iran
make the topic more important than ever. They use two core
statistics on U.S. foreign bases to make their case: The Pentagon
has confirmed that there are 735 U.S. bases overseas; 96 percent of
all foreign military bases worldwide are U.S. They also claim that
the U.S. has more bases in Latin America than we admit because we
have sworn the host countries to secrecy, and add that USG military
training of foreign militaries is just as "evil" as our overseas
bases.


3. Why Hold the Meeting in Ecuador? According to the INBN briefers,
the Manta FOL has become the organization's focus because of the
"Correa administration's open opposition" to the U.S. presence in
Ecuador (note: Correa has not called for U.S. withdrawal but has
made clear his opposition to renewing the current bilateral
agreement that expires in 2009. end note). Manta's strategic
importance for the USG means that if they can successfully "throw
the U.S. out" of Manta, they will have delivered a real blow. They
made a number of disinformation points in the briefing: The Manta
FOL is being financed by "the Plan Colombia legislation," which
proves the USG has been dishonest in its description of activities
in Manta; the USG is controlling the international flow of oil
through flights from the Manta FOL and the group will reveal the
USG's methods; Manta is an example of a "base" situated to advance
USG plans to exploit water and oil resources in the future; one of
the FOL's "secret missions" is to intercept illegal immigrants in
order to keep "undesired races" out of the U.S.; the USG has removed
farmers from their homes around the FOL for future USG expansion
projects; child prostitution, trafficking of girls, and reports of
rape and drug abuse in Manta have increased since 2000 because of
the presence of U.S. soldiers. They said that Joseph Gerson of the
U.S. will attend the conference and reveal his research on "secret"
studies conducted by the Pentagon.


4. Conference Impact: The Mission expects widespread coverage of the
conference by the Ecuadorian and international media, and local
leftist organizations will undoubtedly seek to maximize its impact.
Last year the GOE published a foreign policy document stating that
there should be "no foreign troops on Ecuadorian soil", and it is
widely expected that efforts will be made to write this policy into
the new constitution slated to result from the constitutional
assembly that Correa seeks to convene later this year.


5. Embassy Action Pre-Conference: The Ecuadorian public outside of
Manta has limited awareness and largely inaccurate information about
the FOL. To fill that information gap and create a positive
environment for continued counter-narcotics cooperation at the FOL
through 2009, as well as - in the best case scenario - a realistic
opportunity to engage the GOE on renewal of the agreement, the
Embassy over the past two months has begun public diplomacy efforts
to explain the benefits of the FOL to the local economy and its
contribution to protecting Ecuador's sovereignty from the scourge of
transnational narcotics activity. In private meetings, and using
TV, radio and print media, the Ambassador and other Mission
spokespersons have been countering misinformation published in the
local media, explaining what the FOL is and is not, and outlining
how bilateral counter narcotics cooperation is good for both
countries. At the same time, we have sought to de-politicize and
put the question of post-2009 renewal into the future, saying only
that we will respect Ecuador's decision and engage the issue when
the time comes to do so. We have also opened the FOL doors to
numerous media outlets for reporting tours, and plan to arrange

future visits for Ecuadorian opinion shapers in order to
"de-mystify" the FOL presence and mission and transparently make the
case that the FOL is simply a small U.S. operation housed within an
Ecuadorian airbase, with a limited-scope mission directly supportive
of mutual interest.


5. Embassy Action During the Conference: The Mission has an
aggressive communications plan to counter disinformation and provide
the Ecuadorian media with the truth about the FOL. Before and
during the No Base Conference, Mission spokespersons will conduct
media interviews and calls on editors to discuss the benefits of the
FOL and of U.S. overseas bases around the world. We will also host
the visits of two national TV stations to the FOL, including one TV
anchor who has been a consistent critic of the FOL, and will meet
with visiting American representatives of WOLA and the AFSC. In
addition, the Ambassador will be speaking to the Ministers of
Defense and Foreign Affairs about GOE participation in or
association with the conference.


6. Embassy Action Post Conference: After the No Base Conference, the
Mission will continue its campaign to inform Ecuadorian opinion
shapers and the general public about the FOL and the benefits of
U.S.-Ecuador counter-narcotics cooperation via private and public
diplomacy, and FOL visits. We also plan to request separate funding
from the Department and DOD for paid media placements to inform the
public about the FOL, and for an enhanced Manta community relations
campaign to increase support for the FOL in key constituencies in
and around Manta.


7. Action Request: Mission has already requested that State/IIP
draft articles on the value of U.S. bases and the U.S. global
security alliances for use in this campaign. In addition, Mission
requests assistance from the Department's counter-disinformation
officer to refute INBN's disinformation claims discussed above.

JEWELL