Eloy Alfaro International Airport Eloy Alfaro International Airport is a combination civilian airport and military air base on the outskirts of Manta in the province of Manabí in western continental Ecuador . The airport , also known as Eloy Alfaro Air Base , is named in honor of Eloy Alfaro , a former president of Ecuador . It was inaugurated by the Ecuadorian Air Force on October 24 , 1978 . It is the fourth busiest airport in Ecuador . Facilities . The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level . It has one runway designated 05 / 23 with an asphalt surface measuring . Former U . S . military presence . Until July 2009 a portion of the airport was used by the Air Forces Southern Air Force component of the United States Southern Command for operations against illegal cocaine trafficking in northwestern South America . It was formally known as Forward Operating Location Manta . In 1999 , the U . S . signed a ten - year agreement with then Ecuadorean President Jamil Mahuad allowing the U . S . to station up 475 military personnel at Manta , rent - free . USAF AWACS E - 3 and United States Navy P - 3 Orion aircraft , supported by about 300 US military personnel , operated from the base to monitor air traffic in the area . The U . S . aircraft based at Manta fed surveillance information to the Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West . The aircraft at the base flew about 100 missions a month looking for drug - running boats departing Colombia . In 2007 , the flights led to about 200 cocaine seizures , totaling about 230 tons . The flights accounted for about 60 percent of U . S . drug interdiction in the eastern Pacific . Since prior to his election , President Rafael Correa has stated that he would not renew the agreement that allowed the United States access to the base when it expires in November 2009 , and commented that " We can negotiate with the U . S . about a base in Manta , if they let us put a military base in Miami . . . " . On March 19 , 2008 the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly voted to outlaw the installation of any foreign military bases in Ecuador . On July 26 , 2008 Ecuador ' s Foreign Ministry formally notified the U . S . embassy that the U . S . lease on the base would not be renewed . The U . S . attempted to persuade Ecuador that hosting the American forces at Manta is of benefit to the country , pointing to the $ 71 million the U . S . spent to upgrade the base to a modern airport and the aid donations that are flown into the base and distributed in the local communities . The U . S . base commander stated that the base pumps $ 6 . 5 million a year into the local economy and employs 150 local employees . Manta ' s mayor , Jorge Zambrano , supported keeping the Americans at Manta . Admiral James Stavridis , chief of the U . S . Southern Command stated on April 21 , 2008 that there were no plans to find a replacement drug - interdiction air base in South America if Ecuador declined to renew the lease of Manta . Instead , the U . S . military would use existing air bases in El Salvador , Curaçao , and Key West , Florida for drug - surveillance flights . Other bases in the continental mass have been posited as candidates for a replacement . The most credible claim of a country prone to host such a base is probably Colombia , whose base in Puerto Salgar recently entered a process of recertification by the US military . On April 14 , 2009 U . S . ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield announced that the base would be relocating from Manta to a location somewhere in Colombia . Said Brownfield , " Colombia and the U . S . are collaborating on efforts against illegal drugs . Part of this collaboration , without doubt , requires access to facilities between both countries . " As of July 2009 , the US was negotiating with Colombia to use Palanquero Air Base in Puerto Salgar as Manta ' s replacement . The last U . S . military anti - narcotics surveillance mission from Manta was flown on July 17 , 2009 .