Ecuador's Correa Wants U.S. Military to Leave

Ecuador's leftist President Rafael Correa said Wednesday he would ask the United States to withdraw American military personnel assigned to its embassy in Quito.

Correa said he became aware of what he described as an outsized presence after learning that four U.S. military personnel were aboard an Ecuadoran military helicopter that came under fire on October 3 last yearnear the border with Colombia.

"That's when we learned of all this, of the military group, nearly 50 military personnel. This is inconceivable," he said, adding: "We are already taking measures with respect to it."

"Unfortunately, these people have been so infiltrated in all the sectors that what is scandalous appeared normal," he said.

U.S. embassy spokesman Jeffrey Weinshenker said the United States had not yet received "formal notification" of the Ecuadoran request.

He said about 20 U.S. Defense Department employees, both military and civilian, were assigned to the embassy and were "fully accredited."

"All our activities are carried out with the explicit approval of the Ecuadoran counterparts," he said.

Correa has been often at odds with the United States since first taking office in 2007.

In 2009, he declined to renew an agreement with the United States that had allowed it to operate a base for counter-narcotics operations on Ecuadoran territory.

The U.S. Agency for International Development is ending its operations in Ecuador after failing to reach an agreement with the government, which had accused it of financing opposition groups.