Lasso will meet with Biden in Washington to propose a joint fight against drug trafficking in Ecuador

The president will arrive at the White House with an agenda that includes a request for financial aid to combat the crisis that has broken out in the country. Quito estimates that it needs 5,000 million dollars to overcome the serious situation

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso will meet this Monday at the White House with his US counterpart Joe Biden to ask him to share the cost of the fight against drug trafficking and a Free Trade Agreement like the one he is finalizing with China.

Lasso arrives in Washington with a list of priorities, including seeking help for a problem that is bleeding the country dry: crime linked to drug traffickers who fight blood and fire for control of drug trafficking on the streets and even from the streets. jails.

A fight that has resulted in hundreds of deaths and led in November to declare a state of emergency in part of Ecuador, located between Colombia and Peru, the world’s largest cocaine producers.

“I think it’s fair to share the bill,” Lasso told reporters Sunday in the port of Guayaquil, shortly before leaving for Washington.

“The battle is taking place here” but “the beneficiaries are not only Ecuadorian youth and children but also youth and children from the United States,” he added.

To win this battle, Ecuador calculates that it needs 5,000 million dollars.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, confirmed Friday that the presidents, who have already met for the June Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, will discuss how to increase security cooperation to combat gang violence. .

Balancing act

Trade will be another of the pillars of the meeting.

“We are the only country on the Pacific coast of America that does not have a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. This is important not only in economic matters but also to avoid migratory flows by creating jobs here,” said the president, who arrives willing to address the issue “in the most frontal and direct way.”

On Friday, the White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, announced that there will be talk of “regional economic integration initiatives, including the Alliance for Economic Prosperity in the Americas”, aimed at mobilizing investment, promoting clean energy and strengthening supply chains.

Perhaps the invitation from Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru to Chile, Venezuela and Argentina to join the Andean Community of Nations (CAN) will come to light.

Like other Latin American countries, Ecuador tries to fend off the rivalry between the two great powers by staying on good terms with Washington and taking advantage of China’s willingness to take out the wallet.

The first conservative president of Ecuador in 14 years negotiates with Biden without turning his back on Xi Jinping, with whom he has “practically closed” a free trade agreement that he has been negotiating for ten months.

Setting an example

Biden will probably focus on the immigration crisis on the border with Mexico, where in the fiscal year that runs from October 1 to September 30, 2,229,718 migrants have been intercepted, according to the Customs and Border Protection Office ( CBP).

Most of the migrants are Latin American, but the number of Ecuadorians is low compared to that of other nationalities. Even so, it has multiplied so far this year, from around 600 in January to more than 5,000 in September, according to official data.

Ecuador is a good student in migration, according to the United States.

“He set an example in the region” by regularizing Venezuelan migrants and refugees residing in the country, said Kirby, who also applauded Lasso’s condemnations of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, another of the issues they will address.

In the international arena, the two leaders will explore opportunities for collaboration when Ecuador assumes its mandate in the UN Security Council for the 2023-2024 biennium.

Days before the visit, Ecuador received good news from Washington.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the disbursement of some 700 million dollars for the country after concluding the sixth and last review of the agreement reached with Quito.

And the United States Congress passed a bipartisan partnership bill for fiscal year 2023 that expands cooperation to strengthen democratic institutions, inclusive economic growth, environmental initiatives, and the fight against corruption, crime, and “influence.” evil alien.”