(QUITO, Ecuador) — Ecuador has ordered all 20 Defense Department employees in the U.S. Embassy’s military group to leave the country by month’s end, The Associated Press has learned. The group was ordered to halt operations in Ecuador in a letter dated April 7, said embassy spokesman Jeffrey Weinshenker. The AP was first alerted to the expulsions by a senior Ecuadorean official who refused to be identified by name due to the information’s sensitive nature. President Rafael Correa had publicly complained in January that Washington had too many military officers in Ecuador, claiming there were 50, and said they had been “infiltrated in all sectors.” At the time, he said he planned to order some to leave. Weinshenker said that Washington provided $7 million in security assistance to Ecuador last year.