Ecuadoreans are voting on whether to lift a constitutional ban on foreign military bases as right-wing President Daniel Noboa pushes for help from the United States in confronting spiralling drug-fuelled violence.
Nearly 14 million people cast ballots on Sunday in a referendum that also asks whether to reduce the number of lawmakers.
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The vote comes as Ecuador grapples with unprecedented bloodshed, with the country’s homicide rate projected to hit 50 per 100,000 people this year, the highest in Latin America.
Polls suggest more than 61 percent of voters back allowing foreign bases, which would likely see the US return to the Manta airbase on the Pacific coast.
US forces operated from Manta between 1999 and 2009 as part of anti-narcotics efforts, until leftist President Rafael Correa held a referendum on foreign troops, resulting in their constitutional ban.
Ecuador, once considered one of the more stable countries in the region, has in recent years faced a sharp rise in violence, with drug cartels, including powerful ones from Mexico, exploiting porous borders and weak institutions to expand their influence.
Noboa, a 37-year-old heir to a prominent banana-exporting fortune, who took office in November 2023, has responded with militarised crackdowns, deployed soldiers to the streets and prisons, launched raids on gang strongholds, declared states of emergency and tightened security at key infrastructure hubs.
The first half of this year saw 4,619 murders, the highest on record, according to Ecuador’s Organized Crime Observatory.
As voting opened, Noboa announced the capture in Spain of Wilmer Geovanny Chavarria Barre, known as Pipo, leader of the notorious Los Lobos gang, who had faked his death and fled to Europe.
He was arrested in the Spanish city of Malaga after Ecuadorean authorities worked with their Spanish counterparts to track him down.
Interior Minister John Reimberg linked Chavarria to more than 400 killings and said he had run criminal networks from behind bars for eight years until 2019.
Noboa said the Los Lobos chief had overseen illicit mining schemes and maintained trafficking connections with Mexico’s Jalisco New Generation Cartel, all whilst hiding in Europe under a false identity.
The US designated Los Lobos and Los Choneros, another Ecuadorian crime syndicate, as “terrorist” organisations in September.
Critics question whether military force alone can address the crisis.
Former President Correa has described the return of foreign forces as “an insult to our public forces and an assault to our sovereignty”, adding: “We do not need foreign soldiers. We need government.”
The referendum also includes questions on a constituent assembly that opposition groups fear could allow Noboa to consolidate power.
In August, Noboa led a demonstration against Constitutional Court justices, with officials calling them “enemies of the people” after they limited expansive security laws.
Critics of the president also argue that a constitutional rewrite will not solve problems like insecurity and poor access to health and education services.
Ecuador became a major cocaine transit hub after the 2016 peace deal in Colombia demobilised guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with international trafficking organisations quickly filling the void.
The country’s Pacific ports, proximity to coca-producing Peru and Colombia, and weak institutions have made it central to the global cocaine supply chain.
Israel is engaged in a last-ditch bid to change the wording of a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the next phase of United States President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan that was recently amended to mention a “credible pathway” to Palestinian statehood.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday that his opposition to a Palestinian state had “not changed one bit”, one day before the UNSC votes on the US-drafted resolution, which would mandate a transitional administration and an international stabilisation force (ISF) in Gaza.
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Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Netanyahu’s government was engaged in a last-minute diplomatic push to alter the draft resolution, which the US had changed to include more defined language about Palestinian self-determination under pressure from Arab and Muslim countries expected to contribute troops to the ISF.
The draft now says that “conditions may be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood” after reforms to the Palestinian Authority are “faithfully carried out and Gaza redevelopment has advanced”.
There has been criticism that Palestinian voices and aspirations have been sidelined in the whole spectacle of Trump’s Gaza plan from its launch, which came with the US president’s customary fanfare.
Later on Sunday, Hamas and other Palestinian resistance factions called on Algeria – a non-permanent member of the UNSC – to reject the plan for stabilisation forces to be deployed in Gaza.
In a statement, the resistance factions called the efforts “a new attempt to impose another form of occupation on our land and people, and to legitimise foreign trusteeship”.
“We direct a sincere and fraternal appeal to the Algerian Republic, government and people, to continue adhering to its principled positions supporting Palestine, and its steadfast rejection of any projects targeting Gaza’s identity and our people’s right to self-determination,” the statement added.
On Friday, a joint statement with eight countries – Qatar, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan and Turkiye – urged “swift adoption” of the draft resolution by the 15-member UNSC. Potential contributors to the force have indicated that a UN mandate is essential for their participation.
Israel has already said it will not accept Turkiye, a key Gaza ceasefire mediator, having any role on the ground.
Turkiye has maintained staunch criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza over the past two years and recently issued arrest warrants for genocide against Netanyahu and other senior officials.
Ahead of Monday’s crucial vote, which is expected to garner the nine votes needed to pass, with the likely abstention of Russia and China, Netanyahu confidants and officials from the Foreign Ministry were said to be engaged in intensive talks with their US counterparts, according to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan).
Netanyahu under pressure
A far-right walkout over the ceasefire plan, in which Trump has heavily invested his own prestige, could bring down Netanyahu’s right-wing government well before the next election, which must be held by October 2026.
On Sunday, Israeli government officials lined up to express their opposition to any proposals backing a Palestinian state.
“Israel’s policy is clear: no Palestinian state will be established,” Defence Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
He was followed by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who said on X that his country would “not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian terror state in the heart of the Land of Israel”.
Far-right firebrand and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called the Palestinian identity an “invention”.
Hardline Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a major backer of Israel’s settler movement who has been sanctioned by a number of countries for “incitement of violence” against Palestinians, urged Netanyahu to take action.
“Formulate immediately an appropriate and decisive response that will make it clear to the entire world – no Palestinian state will ever arise on the lands of our homeland,” he said on X.
Russia’s rival resolution
The UNSC resolution would give the UN’s blessing to the second phase of Trump’s 20-point plan, which brought about a ceasefire after two years of genocidal war that has killed nearly 70,000 Palestinians.
The ceasefire came into effect on October 10, although it has been repeatedly breached by Israel with near-daily attacks that have killed hundreds of people.
There has been plenty of jockeying ahead of the vote.
Meanwhile, Russia is circulating its own resolution to rival the US version, offering stronger language on Palestinian statehood and stressing that the occupied West Bank and Gaza must be joined as a contiguous state under the Palestinian Authority.
In a statement, Russia’s UN mission said that its objective was to “to amend the US concept and bring it into conformity” with previous UNSC decisions.
Somalia’s Immigration and Citizenship Agency has confirmed that hackers breached its electronic visa platform, exposing sensitive personal data of travellers who used the system.
The admission on Sunday marks the first official acknowledgement by Somali authorities after the United States and United Kingdom issued warnings earlier in the week.
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At least 35,000 people, including thousands of American citizens, may have had their data compromised when “unidentified hackers” penetrated the system, according to a US Embassy statement issued on November 13.
Somalia’s Defence Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi had praised the electronic visa system this week, claiming it had successfully prevented ISIL (ISIS) fighters from entering the country, as a months-long battle continued in the northern regions against a local affiliate of the group.
The leak came to wider attention last week after clusters of accounts on the social media platform X began circulating what they claimed was personal information from affected individuals.
The breach has cast a spotlight on the vulnerabilities of a digital system that Somalia’s government had promoted as essential for improving national security.
The immigration agency said it was treating the issue with “special importance” and announced it has launched an investigation into the issue.
The agency said it was investigating “the extent of the attempted breach, its origin, and any potential impact”, adding that a report would be published and those affected would be informed directly.
However, the statement did not indicate how many people were affected, nor did it give any sense of how long the process might take.
The government has since quietly moved its e-visa system to a new website.
The UK embassy warned travellers on November 14 that “this data breach is ongoing and could expose any personal data you enter into the system,” advising people to “consider the risks before applying for an e-visa”.
Mohamed Ibrahim, a former Somali telecommunications minister and tech expert, told Al Jazeera that while hacking is a significant challenge, the authorities’ lack of transparency is troubling.
“Somalia isn’t high-tech, and hacking, in itself, is neither here nor there. But they should have been upfront with the public,” Ibrahim said.
“Why was the website’s URL changed, for example? That hasn’t even been explained,” he added, referring to the domain name change for the e-visa application site.
On Saturday, the Somali immigration agency’s director-general dismissed media reports about the breach as “coordinated misinformation campaigns” intended to undermine state institutions.
“A Somali individual cannot undermine the dignity, authority, honour or unity of the state,” Mustafa Sheikh Ali Duhulow told an audience in Mogadishu on Saturday night, without directly addressing the hacking allegations.
The breach has sparked fury among officials in Somaliland, the breakaway region that declared independence from Somalia in 1991, who have generally resisted attempts by Mogadishu to impose control over the territory.
Mohamed Hagi, an adviser to Somaliland’s president, called Mogadishu’s administration “institutionally irresponsible” for keeping the visa portal active despite the breach.
The incident came amid escalating tensions between Somalia and Somaliland over airspace control.
Somalia’s government has been working to tighten control of its national airspace and centralise visa procedures, despite authority in the country being fragmented among autonomous regional states.
She was one of the staunchest supporters of Donald Trump, amplifying the America First agenda of his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, but Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has had a public falling-out with the United States president.
Greene, one of the most vocal voices from Trump’s MAGA base, has increasingly been expressing her disagreements, accusing the Trump administration of prioritising foreign policy over pressing domestic issues, such as a cost-of-living crisis. She has particularly been critical of US military support for Israel’s war on Gaza, which she has called a genocide.
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But the breakdown of their relationship came after Greene backed Democratic efforts to release files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was a friend of Trump’s.
On Friday, Trump announced he was revoking his endorsement of Greene as he used his Truth Social platform to call the 51-year-old lawmaker “wacky” and a “ranting lunatic”. A day later, he continued his broadside, calling her a “traitor” and a “disgrace” to the Republican Party.
In response, Greene said Trump is coming after her “hard”, seeking to “scare all the other Republicans before next week’s vote to release the Epstein files”.
On Saturday, the Republican lawmaker accused Trump of putting her life in danger, saying his online criticism has triggered a wave of threats against her.
So who is Greene, and why has her relationship with Trump broken down? How will it impact the MAGA base?
Who is Marjorie Taylor Green, the MAGA champion?
Greene’s interest in politics, according to the US broadcaster NBC News, began in 2016, when she began writing on topics supporting the far-right QAnon conspiracy theories.
She was elected to represent Georgia’s 14th Congressional District in 2020.
As a member of the US House of Representatives since January 2021, Greene has been a staunch Trump supporter and also stood by the president during the January 2021 Capitol Hill insurrection, which saw Trump supporters force their way into the US Capitol building to try to stop the certification of the presidential election victory of Trump rival and Democrat Joe Biden.
Greene said “January 6 was just a riot” and defended it as a movement to “overthrow tyrants”. But after a backlash, she said she had been joking.
Greene has been a vocal supporter of the conservative agenda in the US, calling herself anti-abortion, pro-gun and anti-immigration. She has backed the US building walls along its borders to prevent undocumented immigrants from entering the country.
Born Marjorie Taylor in Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1974, Greene graduated from the University of Georgia in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
She then began working in her family’s company Taylor Commercial, a construction and renovation company, and in 2002, she and her husband at the time, Perry Greene, took over the business. In 2012, Marjorie entered the fitness sector and opened a CrossFit gym that she expanded and eventually sold.
Trump has called Greene a ‘traitor’ for her criticism of his administration [File: AFP]
Which issues are creating divisions within Trump’s MAGA base?
In recent weeks, Greene has been critical of the US president’s policies, especially linked to the Epstein files, the cost of living crisis, healthcare and foreign policy.
Epstein files: On Wednesday, US lawmakers released more than 20,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate, putting Trump’s relationship with the sex offender under scrutiny.
Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 after being arrested on charges of sex trafficking of minors. Trump, who had a 15-year friendship with Epstein, denies all wrongdoing and has repeatedly stated that he was never involved in – or even knew about – Epstein’s sexual crimes.
But the US Department of Justice has repeatedly refused to release the court files, raising eyebrows – not least among Trump’s own Republican Party and MAGA base.
Greene has been critical of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files and has repeatedly said all the files should be released.
“The American people deserve full transparency into who was involved in these horrific acts,” she said on X on Thursday.
The US House of Representatives will vote on releasing all remaining sealed court files pertaining to Epstein this week.
Cost of living: In recent weeks, Greene has railed against Trump’s budget and spending policies and also accused Republicans of not paying enough attention to the cost of living crisis.
Since Trump returned to the White House in January, he has insisted that he would bring prices down in the US by bringing in more revenue to the government by imposing tariffs. He has also repeatedly said inflation is not currently a serious concern for the US economy.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of September, grocery prices have risen every month since Trump took office. According to the US Energy Information Administration, the price of electricity bills has also risen.
In an interview with former Trump Press Secretary Sean Spencer on Friday, Greene said: “President Trump and his administration [do] deserve a lot of credit for lowering inflation and holding it steady, but that doesn’t bring prices down. And so gaslighting the people and trying to tell them that prices have come down is not helping.”
“It’s actually infuriating people because people know what they’re paying at the grocery store. They know what they’re paying for their kid’s clothes and school supplies. They know what they’re paying for their electricity bills,” she said.
Healthcare costs: Greene has also accused Republicans of failing to grapple with rising healthcare costs, expressing her concerns about the issue as the government shutdown, the longest in US history, ended without a guarantee on tax credits for health insurance.
Democrats have proposed a bill for a three-year extension of the healthcare subsidies, which are due to expire at the end of this year.
“When the tax credits expire this year, my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” she wrote in an X post on October 7.
“Not a single Republican in leadership talked to us about this or has given us a plan to help Americans deal with their health insurance premiums DOUBLING!!!” she added.
Trump has proposed to send healthcare subsidies directly into people’s bank accounts.
Why has Greene accused Trump of deviating from his America First agenda?
During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly prioritised the interests of American citizens by promising more jobs and bringing down the cost of living.
But according to Greene, the president has not devoted time on domestic issues. She has been critical of US military support to Israel and became one of the first Republicans to call Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide.
She publicly took on Trump for military intervention in Iran in support of Israel.
Greene has also been opposed to the Trump administration sending more weapons to Ukraine as Europe’s deadliest war since World War II rages on. In July after Trump approved more military support to Kyiv, Greene, said on X: “MAGA voted for no more US involvement in foreign wars.”
In August, she also expressed dissent against the Trump administration’s $20bn economic support to Argentina, accusing the government of ignoring its America First agenda.
In an interview with NBC News this month, she said: “We didn’t elect the president to go out there and travel the world and end the foreign wars.”
“We elected the president to stop sending tax dollars and weapons for the foreign wars – to completely not engage any more,” she said, addeding: “One of the big campaign issues is Americans were fed up with foreign wars.”
How has Trump responded?
Announcing that he is withdrawing his endorsement of Greene in a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said all he sees “‘Wacky’ Marjorie do is COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!”
“She has told many people that she is upset that I don’t return her phone calls anymore,” Trump said.
“I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”
He also said she should not run for governor or senator of Georgia and accused Greene of going “far left” in her views.
In an interview with Fox News last week, Trump also defended his MAGA strategy and said MAGA was his idea. “I know what MAGA wants better than anybody else.”
On social media after the release of the Epstein files on Wednesday, he said it was a “hoax” by Democrats and said “a very bad or stupid Republican would fall into that trap.”
How has Greene responded?
Responding to Trump’s attack late on Friday, Greene said on X that she’s astonished about how hard Trump’s fighting “to stop the Epstein files from coming out that he actually goes to this level”.
“But really most Americans wish he would fight this hard to help the forgotten men and women of America who are fed up with foreign wars and foreign causes, are going broke trying to feed their families, and are losing hope of ever achieving the American dream,” she said, adding that’s what she voted for.
“I have supported President Trump with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him,” she said.
“But I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump. I worship God, Jesus is my savior, and I serve my district GA14 and the American people.”
President Trump just attacked me and lied about me. I haven’t called him at all, but I did send these text messages today. Apparently this is what sent him over the edge.
The Epstein files.
And of course he’s coming after me hard to make an example to scare all the other… pic.twitter.com/EcUzaohZZs
Many MAGA supporters have expressed their support to Greene after Trump’s attack against her.
“I respect President Trump but I stand with my Congresswoman @mtgreenee,” said Emory Roy, who works for Turning Point Action, the organisation founded by Trump supporter Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed in September.
“While we are seeing progress under President Trump’s Administration, I know the people of NWGA [Northwest Georgia] will stop at nothing until we get back to the founding principles that made this country so great,” she added.
Some MAGA users also began expressing their discontent with Trump after the feud.
“I voted for Trump three times and I regret it. I will not be voting for him in the midterms. I hope he loses,” one X user said on Saturday.
Another X user shared a similar view and said: “He’s lost his way from maga.”
What are the other controversies Greene has been a part of?
Greene has been a controversial figure, known for a combative style of dealing with politicians as well as journalists.
She told a journalist to “f*** off” during an interview last year. After then-British Foreign Secretary David Cameron urged the US to back Ukraine, Greene said: “David Cameron needs to worry about his own country and, frankly, he can kiss my a**.”
Greene has faced criticism for her support for QAnon before being elected to Congress in 2020, even though she insists she has distanced herself from the ideology.
One of her theories included the claim that 9/11 was an inside job and there is no evidence that a plane had crashed.
“Some people claimed a missile hit the Pentagon. I now know that is not correct. The problem is our government lies to us so much to protect the Deep State, it’s hard sometimes to know what is real and what is not,” she said on X in 2020.
But a month after becoming a member of the House, she said: “9/11 absolutely happened. I remember that day, crying all day long, watching it on the news. And it’s a tragedy for anyone to say it didn’t happen. So that I definitely want to tell you all, I do not believe it’s fake.”
Shortly before being elected to the House, she said: “Muslims do not belong in government.”
In 2021, she posted an Islamophobic thread on X, saying: “It’s not irrational to fear Islamic terrorism or a religion that states it’s goal is world domination and the death of infidels,” drawing condemnation from House members.
In 2021, she was stripped of her House committee assignments over her past incendiary comments and her apparent support for violence against Democrats.
Greene has also been called out by House members for her racist views towards Black people.
According to a June 2020 Politico report, Greene called Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists “idiots” and compared them to neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members. The BLM movement, which highlights racial inequalities in the US, began after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a police officer in the US in June 2020 during an arrest.
Greene has also been accused of expressing anti-Semitic views. According to US media reports, in 2018, she had said in a Facebook post that the wildfires in California could have been caused by an international cabal tied to Jews. She has since deleted the post.
In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she compared anti-COVID measures such as wearing masks to the yellow stars Jews were forced to wear during the Nazi era.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at the time condemned her views.
Earlier this week, a flight carrying 153 Palestinians from Gaza landed in South Africa without documentation. The passengers were stuck on the plane for 12 hours before the South African authorities, who claimed they had not been informed by Israelis about the deportation flight, allowed them to disembark on humanitarian grounds.
The Palestinians on board had paid between $1,500 and $5,000 to a company called Al-Majd Europe to leave Gaza. The operation is run by a few Palestinians on the ground in coordination with the Israeli occupation authorities. At least two other such flights had already been made since June this year.
This is the latest scheme Israel is deploying to depopulate Gaza – a longstanding goal of its apartheid regime that goes back to the early 20th century.
Since the beginning of the Zionist movement, Palestinians have been perceived as a demographic obstacle to establishing a Jewish state. In the late 19th century, Theodor Herzl, one of the founding fathers of Zionism, wrote that the displacement of Arabs from Palestine must be part of the Zionist plan, suggesting that poor populations could be moved across borders and deprived of employment opportunities in a quiet and cautious manner.
In 1938, David Ben-Gurion, a key Zionist leader who would later become Israel’s first prime minister, made clear he supported forced “relocation” and saw nothing “immoral” in it. Part of this vision was carried out 10 years later during the Nakba of 1948, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced out of their homes in what Israeli historian Benny Morris has called “necessary” ethnic cleansing.
After 1948, Israel continued efforts to displace Palestinians. In the 1950s, tens of thousands of Palestinians and Palestinian Bedouins were forcibly transferred from the Naqab (Negev) desert to the Sinai Peninsula or Gaza, which was under Egyptian administration at that time.
After the June 1967 war, when Israel occupied Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it adopted a strategy of what it called “voluntary migration”. The idea was to create harsh living conditions to pressure residents to leave, including demolishing homes and reducing employment opportunities.
In parallel, “emigration offices” were established in the refugee camps of Gaza to encourage people who have lost any hope of return to their homes to leave in exchange for money and travel arrangements. Israel also encouraged Palestinians to go work abroad, especially in the Gulf. The price Palestinians had to pay for leaving was never being allowed to come back.
After October 7, 2023, Israel saw another chance to carry out its plan of ethnically cleansing Gaza – this time through genocide and forced expulsion. It thought it had the necessary international sympathy and diplomatic capital to carry out such an atrocity, as statements by various Israeli officials, such as ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, show. They even came up with the so-called “General’s Plan” to fully depopulate northern Gaza.
The new scheme for forcing Palestinians out of Gaza fits well into this historical pattern. What distinguishes it, however, is that Palestinians are made to pay for their own forced displacement and their desperation is exploited by Palestinian collaborators who seek to make easy profit. This, of course, is meant to further the financial depletion of the Palestinian population and create more internal fissures and tensions.
This scheme, like previous ones, also has the central feature of denying Palestinians return. None of the passengers on the plane received Israeli exit stamps on their passports, which was the reason the South African authorities struggled with the admission process. Having no legal record of leaving the Israeli-occupied territory of Gaza means these people are automatically classified as illegal migrants and have no possibility of returning.
It is important here to clarify why Israel is allowing these flights to take place while impeding the evacuation of ill and injured Palestinians and students accepted in foreign universities. These exits of patients and students would be legal, and they imply the right to return – something Israel does not want to allow.
That there are Palestinians willing to fall for this flight scheme is unsurprising. Two years of genocide have driven the people of Gaza to unimaginable desperation. There are that many Gaza residents who would willingly board those planes. And yet, Israel cannot fly us all to South Africa.
Through decades of Zionist occupation, Palestinians have persevered. Palestinian steadfastness in the face of wars, sieges, home raids, demolitions, land theft, and economic subjugation confirms that the Palestinian land is not merely a place to live, but a symbol of identity and history that people are not willing to give up.
In the past two years, Israel has destroyed the lives and homes of two million Palestinians. And even that has failed to kill the Palestinian spirit and drive to hold onto the Palestinian land. The Palestinians are not flying out; we are here to stay.
