Overview
- Peru announced Thursday that it will join the U.S.-led Shield of the Americas, a counternarcotics coalition that Lima says will speed intelligence-sharing and enable joint action against transnational criminal groups.
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrapped a three-country tour of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and said the U.S. will seek partner approval before conducting strikes even as U.S. forces have continued a yearlong campaign of lethal strikes on suspected drug boats.
- On the trip Rubio designated Ecuadorian gang Los Tiguerones as a foreign terrorist organization and pledged security assistance, including a requested $45 million in new funding and offers of military equipment for regional partners.
- Hundreds of protesters gathered in Lima to oppose deeper U.S. security ties, and China pushed back diplomatically, with its embassy warning the Western Hemisphere is not anyone's 'backyard' as Beijing remains Peru's largest trading partner.
- The pact responds to rising extortion and homicides in Peru and could increase U.S. operational presence in the region, a move that offers quick support to President Keiko Fujimori but also raises human-rights and sovereignty concerns.