Galápagos Islands: outcry after Ecuador allows US military to use airstrip

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Political row sparked after government gave US permission to use island for anti-narcotics flights

A woman holds a sign that reads in Spanish ‘Galápagos is not to be sold, but to be defended’ during a protest agains plans to allow the US military to use an island.
 A woman holds a sign that reads in Spanish ‘Galápagos is not to be sold, but to be defended’ during a protest agains plans to allow the US military to use an island. Photograph: Dolores Ochoa/AP

The Galápagos Islands are at the centre of political row in Ecuador after the government agreed to allow US anti-narcotics planes to use an airstrip on the archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Dozens of people demonstrated outside the main government office in Quito on Monday to protest against a plan they described as a threat to the world heritage site’s unique environment – and an attack on Ecuador’s sovereignty.

The Galápagos Islands, 563 miles west of the South American continent, are renowned for their unique plants and wildlife. Unesco…

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