U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Peru next week as part of a regional tour that also takes him to Colombia and Ecuador, the U.S. State Department announced on Friday.
Rubio will travel between September 8 and 10 with the aim of strengthening Washington's partnerships in the region. During the trip, he is expected to meet with the new governments of Colombia and Peru, as well as with Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa.
In Peru, the U.S. official will meet with representatives of President Keiko Fujimori's government. It will be the first visit by the top U.S. diplomat to the country since Fujimori took office at the end of July.
According to the State Department, the meetings will address regional security, the joint fight against narcoterrorism, and opportunities to strengthen trade relations.
Colombia and Ecuador Legs of the Tour
In Colombia, one of the topics will be U.S. support for the country's response to the earthquake that struck on August 10. The visit will also seek to reinforce cooperation against drug trafficking and organized crime.
In Ecuador, Rubio is expected to meet with Noboa to discuss bilateral cooperation on security and the fight against drug trafficking.
The State Department said the tour would allow the Trump administration to reaffirm its commitment to a Western Hemisphere that is safe, prosperous and democratic.
Ambassador's Message
The U.S. ambassador to Peru, Bernie Navarro, highlighted Rubio's upcoming visit to Lima on his account on X. Navarro said it was an honor, as ambassador, to soon welcome Rubio to Peru, and told followers to expect excellent news for the countries' cooperation.
Washington's Deepening Ties with Latin America
The secretary of state's tour comes at a time when Washington's cooperation with Latin America is growing closer, coinciding with electoral wins over the past year by several governments ideologically aligned with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Security is one of the areas where the White House is achieving the most reinforced cooperation at the regional level, and it is expected to be one of the topics Rubio addresses during his visit to Colombia, where the commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Francis Donovan, already traveled at the end of August.
Following President De la Espriella's arrival in office, Colombia announced it was joining the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas (A3C), a military and operational alliance promoted by the Trump administration to jointly combat drug trafficking and organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, used the announcement of Colombia's accession to say that De la Espriella has authorized Washington to carry out joint military operations against drug trafficking on Colombian soil.
Second Ecuador Visit in Under a Year
The fight against organized crime is also expected to be addressed by Rubio and Noboa during the secretary of state's visit to Ecuador, his second in less than a year. In that period, Quito and Washington have already disclosed the execution of a couple of joint operations against drug trafficking in the Andean country.
