Manta (Ecuador)
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Coordinates: 0 ° 59 ′ S , 80 ° 45 ′ W Manta on the map of Ecuador
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| Basic data | ||
| Country | Ecuador | |
| province | Manabí | |
| Residents | 217,553 (2010) | |
| Detailed data | ||
| height | 0 m | |
| Time zone | UTC -5 | |
| City Presidency | Jorge Zambrano | |
| Website | ||
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Manta is a medium-sized port city on the Pacific coast of Ecuador .
It is located in the province of Manabí and has existed since before the Spanish conquest . The city has grown to 217,553 inhabitants in the last 50 years. The main economic activity is tuna fishing. Other branches of the economy are tourism and the chemical industry.
The city has an international airport (Eloy Alfaro International) and a relatively large seaport.
Ecuador signed a ten-year contract with the US in 1999 that allowed the US to use the Manta military airfield to launch anti-drug planes from there. The base in Manta was one of the Forward Operating Locations of the United States Southern Command and the main center of the United States Department of Defense for satellite-based electronic espionage in South America.
Among other things, the discontent in the Ecuadorian population about this treaty led in 2005 to the fact that the Ecuadorian President Lucio Gutiérrez was ousted by parliament after several days of demonstrations. In January 2007, the recently appointed Minister of Defense Guadalupe Larriva was killed in a helicopter collision in the immediate vicinity of this base .
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa did not renew the contract for the only US air force base in South America to date; in September 2009 the US military cleared its high-tech center for satellite-based electronic espionage there.
Colombia and right-wing conservative President Álvaro Uribe left seven bases to the USA to replace Manta (main base in Palanquero in the middle of Colombia); the agreement was signed on October 31, 2009.
sons and daughters of the town
- Gonzalo Escobar (* 1989), Ecuadorian tennis player
Town twinning
- Long Beach , California, USA
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manta. Frendy.de
- ↑ Christian Schmidt-Häuer: In the grip of the empire . In: Die Zeit , No. 3/2010