SOURIS, N.D. (AP) - Patricia Bryantt says she has not seen her cousin, Rafael Correa, in more than 25 years. She is planning a trip to Ecuador next week for a special reunion, when he becomes that country's president.

Bryantt came to the United States when she was 16, and became a U.S. citizen. She said she hears from her famous cousin occasionally through e-mail. She remembers Correa as a handsome teenager who has long been interested in politics.

"He told his mother, 'One day I will be president and change things,"' Bryantt recalled.

Bryantt said her cousin is a member of Ecuador's Christian Left party and seeks to improve conditions for people in that country while ending corruption in government.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., were part of a Senate delegation that met with Correa last week. Correa said he does not want to extend the U.S. military's use of the Manta air base on the Pacific coast for drug surveillance flights when a treaty expires in 2009. He also has said he will not sign a free trade agreement with the United States but will seek extended trade preferences in exchange for cooperation in fighting drugs.

Bryantt lives in rural Souris with her husband, Tim, and four children. When she got the invitation to attend the inauguration in Ecuador, Bryantt said, she was not sure she would be able to go.

She had imagined returning to Ecuador with her family someday. But her husband told her she should not miss the opportunity to see her first cousin become president, even if the rest of the family could not attend.

Bryantt hired a company to expedite her passport, and she hopes it will be available in time for her to fly out of the country on Jan. 10. Correa officially takes office Jan. 15.

Bryantt plans to attend the inauguration ceremony with her brother, Roddy Cueva, who lives in Bottineau, and Cueva's wife and daughter. She expects to see changes in Ecuador.

"When I lived there, we were under dictatorship for many years," she said.

Bryantt said she likes the fact that change comes more slowly in North Dakota, and loves her "little house on the prairie."

Bryantt said she has nearly 20 first cousins, many of whom get together regularly, and hopes to reunite with them in Ecuador.