Q24N — For an instant it seemed that Ecuador would stand up to Russia, planning to send six Russian military helicopters, long-range rocket launchers and air defense systems to the United States. These weapons would then be sent from the US to Ukraine.
Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa announced last month that his government had agreed to exchange Russian military equipment that had become “scrap metal” for new US weapons, worth around US$200 million, to be used in its fight against powerful drug gangs.
“This is going forward no matter what,” Noboa told Ecuavisa, an Ecuadorean television station, on Jan. 30.
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Russia slammed the “reckless” decision and banned the import of Ecuadoran bananas and flowers, citing the detection of pests.
Quickly, Ecuador’s government did a back peddle.
Last Friday, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld told a congressional committee, “Ecuador will not send any war material to a country that is involved in an international armed conflict.”
Soon after the statement by the Foreign Minister, Ecuador’s Trade Minister Sonsoles Garcia said on X (formerly Twitter) that the Russian embargo on five banana exporting companies had been lifted.
Ecuador is the world’s biggest banana exporter and one of the top exporters of flowers, mainly roses.
Nine out of 10 bananas imported by Russia come from Ecuador, according to Russian media.
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With notes from The Washington Post and France24
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