The U.S. Secretary of State announced today that he will be visiting Colombia, Ecuador and Peru next week to meet representatives of the elected governments of Bogotá and Lima, as well as the Ecuadorean President.
© Lusa
04/09/2026
by
Lusa
Din response to the three-day visit from 8 to 10 September, Marco Rubio will address the support of the United States for the recovery of Colombia after the earthquake that struck the country on 10 August, greater cooperation “in the joint fight against narcoterrorism”, as well as “the benefits of closer trade relations,” the State Department explained in a brief statement.
Although the U.S. Government has not officially confirmed further details on the trip, the Colombian media said that Rubio will meet with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella in the city of Barranquilla.
In turn, it will also be the first head visit of American diplomacy to Peru after the arrival of conservative Keiko Fujimori in late July.
The Secretary of State's tour takes place at a time when Washington's cooperation with Latin America is increasingly close, coinciding with the electoral victories of several governments ideologically aligned with the administration of President Donald Trump.
Security is one of the areas in which the White House is being able to further strengthen cooperation at regional level and promises to be one of the topics that Rubio will address during his visit to Colombia, where U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) commander Francis Donovan has already visited at the end of August.
In addition, after the inauguration of De la Espriella, Colombia announced its accession to the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas (A3C), a military and operational alliance driven by the Trump administration to jointly combat drug trafficking and organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took advantage of the announcement of Colombian accession to state that De la Espriella authorized Washington to conduct joint military operations against drug trafficking on Colombian soil.
The fight against organized crime should also be addressed by Rubio and Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa during the visit of the Secretary of State to Ecuador, the second in just one year, when Quito and Washington have already released two joint operations against drug trafficking in the Andean country.