00:00We now give the floor to Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
00:05Thank you very much for the opportunity to meet with you today.
00:10This is my second visit, but the first Secretary of State.
00:16I was here as a senator several years ago, and I came back today.
00:20It was an honor to meet with you two in two very important meetings.
00:26First, we have to say that without security, we cannot make economic progress.
00:31This is something that our president knows well.
00:36And what we are seeking is to help this government in Ecuador to face these threats.
00:42These threats are basically brought in from other countries, such as drug trafficking,
00:48illegal mining, that form these illegal groups,
00:51and basically coming from other countries that are affecting the country internally.
00:58First and foremost, I want to say that today we are designating as terrorist groups,
01:05Los Lobos and Los Choneros,
01:08which gives us many options to fight against them through this special designation.
01:15I want to announce that we are designating $13.7 million to fight drugs and crime
01:22at the Department of State through our efforts.
01:25And also, we are working to invest $6 million for drones, UAVs,
01:35for the Ecuadorian Navy,
01:38so that they can combat this scourge.
01:43This is the beginning of what we can do together.
01:45We spoke of the possibilities.
01:47This is something long-term.
01:49Two station U.S. troops in Ecuador,
01:55in cooperation, obviously, with the Ecuadorian government,
01:59to create opportunities for joint training and operations
02:02and face common threats.
02:05Our relationship with Ecuador will not be limited just to security,
02:09to fight drug trafficking and money laundering and illegal mining.
02:14That's not the only focus of our relationship.
02:17We wish to have a broad relationship, an economic relationship.
02:23We've had a long-standing relationship culturally, personally, economically.
02:27These are links that have existed for a long time.
02:30The U.S. have imported a lot from Ecuador.
02:36We want to expand it.
02:38I'm not in charge of tariffs,
02:40but I do understand their importance in our bilateral relationship.
02:46We've made much progress in that regard.
02:48We've made much progress in our negotiations,
02:51and we hope that soon we will be able to have a positive announcement
02:55to strengthen and promote our capacity to expand our relations,
03:01not just to maintain them, but expand our economic relations.
03:05We also spoke about the IMF.
03:10This is something that is the purview of the U.S. Treasury,
03:14but we will be speaking to them to see what can be done.
03:18This is something that can be solved, and we can see positive results in that regard.
03:23We also spoke about the hemispheric threat that comes from narco-terrorist groups.
03:30We used to call them narco-traffickers, but they're really narco-terrorists.
03:34They commit terrorist acts against the government,
03:38against the population, against countries.
03:40And you've lived this yourselves in specific areas.
03:44It's important to say this.
03:45There are places in the country where people live peacefully,
03:50but violence is concentrated in geographic areas along the borders due to human mobility.
03:58This is something that has grown because there is such a huge inflow of cash
04:04in cooperating with foreign groups like Venezuela,
04:09Cartel de Colombia, Cartel de México.
04:11These are things that affect the country internally.
04:15We are 100% committed to work together because this is a threat for us.
04:21At the end of the day, most of those drugs, you suffer violence,
04:26but most of these drugs are going to the U.S.,
04:30and thousands and thousands of people have died because of these drugs coming to our country.
04:36So we are working with you.
04:37If you allow me, I'll speak in English for a few moments.
04:40I speak in Spanish much more.
04:43I speak very fast in English.
04:45Thank President Noboa, the foreign minister as well, for having me here today.
04:49It's my second visit.
04:51I was here as a senator just a few years ago,
04:53and now I've returned for the first time as Secretary of State.
04:56We have a very productive meeting, and we have a lot to work on together.
04:59Obviously, the issue of security came up.
05:02This is an important issue.
05:03You cannot have economic prosperity without stability,
05:06and you cannot have stability without security.
05:08For example, it's nearly impossible to attract foreign investment into a country unless you have security.
05:14And Ecuador is facing some substantial challenges that come from the exterior.
05:18These are narco-terrorist organizations that operate in the region who are using Ecuador as a transit zone,
05:25and that needs to be confronted, and they are confronting it.
05:27This government, this administration is confronting it like it's never been confronted before by any previous administration,
05:33and we want to help.
05:34Today, we have designated as terrorist organizations two groups that operate here in Ecuadorian territory.
05:42One is Los Lobos, and the other is Los Choneros.
05:45We've designated them as foreign terrorist organizations,
05:48and that brings with it all sorts of options for the United States to work in conjunction with the government of Ecuador in the future
05:55to stamp these groups out.
05:57By the way, I want to say that we had a very successful, the first one in a long time,
06:01of one of these leaders of one of these groups, an extradition to the United States.
06:05We want to modernize that extradition treaty.
06:07Both sides agree.
06:08It's a pretty, you know, we were able to get this guy because he's committed so many crimes.
06:12Even a law that was 120 years old fit him, but we need to modernize it, and we're going to work together on that.
06:18Today, I can announce that we are going to be providing $13.5 million to help Ecuador
06:24with its, improve its ability to provide security for its citizens and take on the combat drugs and crime.
06:31And another $6 million in UAVs for the Navy here in Ecuador,
06:36again, giving them domain awareness and the opportunity to really track these groups.
06:39These are all very important.
06:40We're going to do more.
06:41There's more coming, but that's an important step that we wanted to take here today,
06:44and I'm proud to announce it.
06:46And we're ready to support, and this, what is, frankly, it's a war.
06:50It's a war on killers.
06:51It's a war on terrorists.
06:52These are not narco-traffickers.
06:53These are narco-terrorists who terrorize the countries they operate in.
06:58Our relationship with Ecuador will not simply be based on security.
07:02It will not simply be based on the fight against narco-terrorism.
07:05We also want to amplify.
07:07We want to grow an already existing and vibrant economic relationship.
07:11And so we are hopeful here that in a couple of weeks we will reach agreement.
07:15We're very close now on a trade agreement that we think will be incredibly beneficial to both of our economies.
07:21In fact, our economies are very compatible.
07:24What they export, we don't do.
07:26What we export, they don't do.
07:27So it's a really good fit, and we think we're very close to that, and hopefully we'll have something positive to announce in just a few weeks.
07:35But we've made a lot of progress, and we're very close.
07:37I don't negotiate trade deals, but I follow them very closely, and I know where we are on it, and we feel very positive about that.
07:44So this is an important relationship, an incredibly willing partner, and I want to just say that President Nabo and his administration has done more just in the last couple years to take the fight to these narco-terrorists and these threats to the security and stability of Ecuador than any previous administration in the past.
08:02And sadly, I hate to say it, but there were previous administrations going back 10 years that were actually cooperating with some of these terrorist organizations.
08:11And when we see someone that's willing to stand up at great risk, personal risk, broader societal risk, we're going to be 100% supportive.
08:19It's the reason for my visit today.
08:20It's the reason why we'll be working very closely with this government to achieve our mutual goals that benefit both the United States and the great people of Ecuador.
08:30Thank you. Muchas gracias.
08:32Muchas gracias.
08:32Muchas gracias.
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