Rubio is wrapping up South America tour focused drug cartel fight with a stop in Peru

LIMA, Peru (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is wrapping up his three-nation South America tour of conservative-led countries in Peru on Thursday as President Donald Trump's administration steps up its counternarcotics and immigration efforts throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Rubio plans to meet new Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori after already seeing the Trump-aligned leaders of Colombia and Ecuador to cement cooperation on fighting drug traffickers and reducing illegal migration.

Trump and Rubio in particular have prioritized having the Western Hemisphere take an increasingly tough stance on “narcoterrorism,” with military strikes against alleged drug traffickers .

From unilateral U.S. actions against alleged drug boats in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean to joint operations mainly with Ecuador in its territorial waters, U.S. forces have three times this week stopped and taken out vessels they say are transporting narcotics.

The Trump administration has put together a coalition of like-minded countries in Latin America to carry out joint military operations against drug cartels, which Colombia recently joined after under new President Abelardo de la Espriella and could be ahead for Peru under Fujimori.

Like her counterparts in Colombia and Ecuador, Fujimori has prioritized the fight against crime in Peru, especially crimes such as extortion and murder. Reports of extortion rose from 2,421 in 2019 to 26,734 in 2025, according to official data.

At the end of August, Peru declared a 60-day state of emergency in Lima and the port of Callao due to the rise in crime and created a committee of officials to coordinate the police. It also declared a state of emergency in five prisons, seeking to control access and prevent escapes.

Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espá said before the meeting with Rubio and Fujimori that they hoped to discuss how to strengthen the bilateral relationship, especially on issues of “security and defense and the fight against transnational organized crime, which is so damaging to our country.”

Peru is one of the world’s leading producers of cocaine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. It is the second-largest cultivator of coca leaf — the raw material for cocaine — only after Colombia, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Trump's administration has put a focus on the Western Hemisphere even as it has launched a war against Iran . Trump has spoken numerous times of reinvoking the 19th century Monroe Doctrine asserting U.S. primacy in the Americas with a focus on drugs, migration and not least countering growing Chinese influence in the region.

The Chinese Embassy in Peru said Tuesday that the “Western Hemisphere is nobody’s ‘backyard,’” in a statement that did not name Rubio but was issued on the eve of his visit. China noted that Latin American countries have the “sovereign right to freely choose their partners” and expressed its willingness to work with Peru and other countries in the region.

Peru also has had a long history of dealing with left-wing insurgencies and still has a sizable number of people sympathetic to such causes.

As Rubio arrived in Lima late Wednesday, hundreds of people protested in Lima, chanting “Yankees out of Peru” and members of the Communist Party waved red flags and a banner with Rubio’s face.

“Marco Rubio arrived in Peru today, and what he wants is for Peru to be his colony," Carmen Espinoza told The Associated Press. “That’s why we’re here protesting, rejecting the visit of an enemy of Peru.”

The demonstration was peaceful and was monitored by police officers who sought to prevent any potential disturbances.

Soledad Lozano, one of the protesters, said Peru “is not the backyard of any country in the world” and argued that Peruvians should decide “with whom we ally ourselves and what agreements we make.”

Suarez reported from Bogota, Colombia.