NewzLIMA, Peru (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged Thursday that the U.S. would not take military action against narcotics traffickers in Latin American countries without the approval of its allies, even as the Trump administration keeps up a yearlong campaign of deadly strikes against alleged drug boats in international waters.Standing next to new Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, Rubio told reporters that while the U.S. has “the capacity to act unilaterally," it would rather work with its allies because that is “the most effective way to do it."His comments came shortly after Fujimori announced that Peru had joined the “Shield of the Americas," a U.S.-led coalition of like-minded countries in the region to carry out joint military operations against drug cartels.
Colombia, where Rubio also stopped this week, also recently joined the group under new President Abelardo de la Espriella.“We’re not going to do anything that our partners don’t ask us to do," Rubio said Thursday. “We don’t want to do less than what you ask of us, but we’re not going to do more than what you ask of us.”Rubio wraps up trip to visit Trump-friendly leaders in South AmericaDuring his fifth trip to Latin America to further cement the Trump administration’s security partnerships with conservative leaders, Rubio this week acknowledged an evolving U.S. strategy to combating drug trafficking in Latin American waters.
He said the administration would be working with allied countries and aligning with their laws but also insisted the military will “still blow up ships if need be” and the approach would “a strike-by-strike or operation-by-operation determination.”After his comments Wednesday, the U.S. military said it carried out another deadly strike against those it called “narcoterrorists” operating a boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing three people. Recently, the military has been carrying out joint operations mainly with Ecuador in its territorial waters, where people have been removed from vessels accused of aiding drug trafficking and transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.Rubio also visited Colombia and Ecuador this week as part of a tour of Trump-friendly, conservative-led countries as the administration steps up its counternarcotics and immigration efforts throughout the Western Hemisphere.
dominance in the region has been a priority for the Trump administr… 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. 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.
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