QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuadorians voted Sunday to strike down a proposal that would have let foreign countries run military bases in the South American country where drug gangs are extorting communities and killing politicians as they fight for territory.
Another proposal rejected in the four-part referendum asked voters if they wanted to launch a process that could lead to a new constitution. Six out of 10 voters said no.
It was a significant defeat for President Daniel Noboa, a conservative who is closely aligned with the Trump administration and had pushed Ecuador's courts to include the question about rewriting the constitution.
Noboa said in an X message after the results were released that his government will "respect the will of the people" and would continue to fight for the country that "everyone deserves.”
Andrea Endara a political science professor at Casa Grande University, said the rejection of Noboa's proposals presented Ecuador's 37-year-old president with a “shower of humility.”
“Those who voted against the proposals are not just opposition activists, but people who are worried with democratic stability, and who are upset with a government that has not fulfilled promises” like keeping gas prices low, or improving security, she explained.
Ecuador, a nation of 18 million people, has struggled to control violent crime as it becomes a key transit point for cocaine produced in neighboring Colombia and Peru, with drug trafficking gangs attacking presidential candidates, mayors and journalists, as they fight for control over ports and coastal cities.
Recently, Noboa met with U.S. officials to discuss regional security and migration cooperation and gave U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a tour of a military base along Ecuador’s coast that could possibly host U.S. troops.
“International cooperation is the only way to dismantle these (drug trafficking) groups, which are transnational criminal networks,” Noboa said after casting his ballot.
Ecuador has had three constitutions since the country returned to democracy in 1979, but Noboa had argued it was time to “rebuild” the country because the current constitution does not give the government enough tools to fight crime.
Voters were also asked if Ecuador should set up a constituent assembly, a legislative body that would be in charge of rewriting the nation’s constitution, with Noboa arguing that a new constitution should seek tougher punishment for criminals and greater measures to control Ecuador’s borders.
Critics of the president said that a constitutional rewrite will not solve problems like insecurity and poor access to health and education services. And some feared that a new constitution would decrease legislative and judicial oversight of the executive branch.
Voters were also asked if Ecuador should cut public funding for political parties, and if the number of legislators in the National Assembly should be reduced from 151 representatives to 73. Both measures were rejected by a wide margin.
Noboa said these measures were necessary to cut excessive government spending, while his critics said they could limit political representation, especially in low-income communities where resources for political campaigns are scarce.
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa shows his vote in a referendum on whether to allow foreign military bases in the country and rewrite the constitution through a constituent assembly, in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, accompanied by his family, votes in a referendum on whether to allow foreign military bases in the country and rewrite the constitution through a constituent assembly, in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, accompanied by his family, votes in a referendum on whether to allow foreign military bases in the country and rewrite the constitution through a constituent assembly, in Olon, Ecuador, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sylvester Stallone, Kiss and Gloria Gaynor are among the luminaries being celebrated Sunday at the annual Kennedy Center Honors, with Donald Trump hosting the show, the first time a president will command the stage instead of sitting in an Opera House box.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has made the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which is named after a Democratic predecessor, a touchstone in a broader attack against what he has lambasted as “woke” anti-American culture.
Trump said in August that he had agreed to host the show. The Republican president said Saturday at a State Department dinner for the honorees that he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” He predicted that the broadcast, scheduled to air Dec. 23 on CBS and Paramount+, would have its best ratings ever.
“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen" on Sunday night, Trump said.
Trump is assuming a role that has been held in the past by journalist Walter Cronkite and comedian and Trump nemesis Stephen Colbert, among others. Before Trump, presidents watched the show alongside the honorees. Trump skipped the honors altogether during his first term.
Since 1978, the honors have recognized stars for their influence on American culture and the arts. Members of this year's class are pop-culture standouts, including Stallone for his “Rocky” and “Rambo” movies, Gaynor for her feminist anthem “I Will Survive” and Kiss for its flashy, cartoonish makeup and onstage displays of smoke and fire. Country music superstar George Strait and Tony Award-winning actor Michael Crawford are also being honored.
The ceremony is expected to be emotional for the members of Kiss. The band’s original lead guitarist, Ace Frehley, died in October after he was injured during a fall.
Previous honorees have come from a broad range of art forms, whether dance (Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham), theater (Stephen Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber), movies (Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks) or music (Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell).
Trump upended decades of bipartisan support for the center by ousting its leadership and stacking the board of trustees with Republican supporters, who then elected him chair. He has criticized the center’s programming and the building’s appearance — and has said, perhaps jokingly, that he would rename it as the “Trump Kennedy Center.” He secured more than $250 million from Congress for renovations of the building.
Presidents of each political party have at times found themselves face to face with artists of opposing political views. Republican Ronald Reagan was there for honoree Arthur Miller, a playwright who championed liberal causes. Democrat Bill Clinton, who had signed an assault weapons ban into law, marked the honors for Charlton Heston, an actor and gun rights advocate.
During Trump’s first term, multiple honorees were openly critical of the president. In 2017, Trump’s first year in office, honors recipient and film producer Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump stayed away during that entire term.
Trump has said he was deeply involved in choosing the 2025 honorees and turned down some recommendations because they were “too woke." While Stallone is one of Trump's Hollywood ”special ambassadors" and has likened Trump to George Washington, the political views of Sunday's other guests are less clear.
Strait and Gaynor have said little about their politics, although Federal Election Commission records show that Gaynor has given money to Republican organizations in recent years.
Kiss co-founder Gene Simmons spoke favorably of Trump when Trump ran for president in 2016. But in 2022, Simmons told Spin magazine that Trump was “out for himself” and criticized Trump for encouraging conspiracy theories and public expressions of racism.
Fellow Kiss member Paul Stanley denounced Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and said Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were “terrorists.” But after Trump won in 2024, Stanley urged unity.
“If your candidate lost, it’s time to learn from it, accept it and try to understand why,” Stanley wrote on X. "If your candidate won, it’s time to understand that those who don’t share your views also believe they are right and love this country as much as you do.”
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Italie reported from New York.
President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The 2025 Kennedy Center Honorees, front row from left, Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford; back row from left, members of the rock band KISS, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Peter Criss, pose for a group photo at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception, hosted at the U.S. Department of State, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
