Blog Monitors Little Known US Spy Base

In our continual monitoring of the Ecuadorian
blogosphere we have come across some amazing
things, not
least of which is "Manta
y los bases de EE.UU." This one-issue gem is a
blog by a local guy named Edgar Rios,dedicated to monitoring the goings
on at the almost unknown electronic headquarters of the Southern Front
of
the
war
against
drugs,
terrorism,
Communist insurgents and Hugo
Chavez – the US "Forward Operating Location"
(FOL) in Manta, Ecuador.

Although they try to keep as low a profile as possible,
the FOL has been in the news a few times recently (see
below) and if
Venezuelan President Chavez is correct in predicting
American military action, overt or covert, aginst his oil-rich and leftist government,
this is one of the directions it will be coming from.

Here is a translation of a recent posting to "Manta
and the US Bases", about the appearance of some of the Air Force’s biggest
planes in what is still officially just a listening post:

When we saw a plane that enormous on the tarmac at the
Forward Operating Location (FOL), we understood why analysts doubt that
the US enclave is intended solely for the control of drug trafficking
in the region.

Just one of the reasons: the Boeing C-17 Globemaster
III was designed as a cargo and troop transport aircraft, and not as
an electronic observation or monitoring vehicle.

The C-17, in operation since 1994 for theAir Forces
of the US and Great Britian, has a capacity of 167,000 pounds and a range
of 5,400 miles, empty.

Given that, we return to the question: What is an aircraft
with these characteristics doing at the Manta base?

On a related note we would really appreciate if we have
a Spanish speaking reader who can explain how the Latin American name
for "Blog" came to be "Bitacora"….