The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will visit Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru from September 8 to 10, as part of a tour that the State Department announced this Friday as an effort to strengthen strategic alliances in the region.
According to the official statement, the three main focuses of the visit will be humanitarian support for Colombia following the devastating earthquake in August, cooperation against narco-terrorism, and strengthening trade ties between Washington and its South American partners.
In Colombia, Rubio will meet with the government of president Abelardo De la Espriella, who assumed power on August 7, replacing Gustavo Petro, marking a radical shift in the bilateral relationship with Washington.
Colombian media reports, although the State Department has not officially confirmed it, that the meeting could take place in Barranquilla.
The humanitarian dimension of the visit is urgent: the 7.4 magnitude earthquake that shook the northwest of Colombia on August 10, with its epicenter in San José del Palmar, Chocó, has left at least 294 dead, 320 missing, and 3,935 injured.
The security agenda also plays a central role. Colombia recently joined the Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas (A3C), the military alliance initiated by the Trump administration, becoming its 19th member.
De la Espriella also authorized Washington to carry out joint military operations against drug trafficking on Colombian soil, as confirmed by U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
The commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Francis Donovan, had already traveled to Colombia at the end of August to strengthen military cooperation with the new government, anticipating Rubio's visit.
In Ecuador, the Secretary of State will meet with President Daniel Noboa to discuss cooperation in security and drug trafficking matters.
This will be Rubio's second visit to Quito in less than a year, during which both countries have already carried out two joint operations against organized crime, according to the agency EFE.
In Peru, the stop will be Rubio's first as head of U.S. diplomacy since Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as constitutional president on July 28, beginning a term that will extend until 2031.
The tour takes place at a time of increasing alignment between Washington and several right-wing Latin American governments, a phenomenon that the Trump administration has leveraged to expand its hemispheric security strategy.
The State Department emphasized that, throughout the trip, Rubio will reaffirm "the Trump administration's commitment to a secure, prosperous, and democratic Western Hemisphere."
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