US and Ecuador Thaw

Ecuador and the United States have signed an agreement to cooperate in fighting drug trafficking, including the creation of a Transnational Criminal Investigation Unit, something the U.S. has across the world that is funded by the Department of Homeland Security but also reports to the respective ambassadors.

This is very positive and is yet another example of how radically Lenín Moreno has moved away from the policy stance of Rafael Correa, who hates him with a vicious passion (and Moreno returns the favor by investigating him). He is all over him on Twitter, for example.

The Ecuadorian government is quite pleased with the arrangement, as this statement indicates:

Tradicionalmente, Ecuador y EE.UU. han tenido una relación bastante fuerte. Durante la administración anterior bajó un poco, pero ahora, bajo el liderazgo del presidente Lenín Moreno, ha declarado claramente que quiere refrescar las relaciones con EE.UU. Eso ofrece nuevas oportunidades de cooperación y en eso estamos. Trabajamos en conjunto por los mismos intereses. Somos socios.

And another slap too:

EE.UU. está abierto, pero lamentablemente, por mucho tiempo, algunas cosas estuvieron pendientes por razones ideológicas. Ahora es diferente, con una visión bastante pragmática del Presidente para avanzar en los intereses nacionales.

Talk about a shift. Correa was hostile even to Barack Obama whereas Moreno is eager to work with the Trump administration.