Peru's President Announces Country's Joining of the "Americas Shield" Alliance
Washington, Sept 10 (KUNA) – Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori announced on Thursday that her country is joining the “Americas Shield,” a security alliance announced by U.S. President Donald Trump last March to combat drug-smuggling gangs. Fujimori, who assumed the presidency in late July, made the announcement during a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Peruvian capital, Lima, where she concluded a tour that also included Colombia and Ecuador, focusing on combating drug trafficking and illegal immigration in the Western Hemisphere.
The Peruvian president stated, “I am pleased to announce to our people that Peru will join the Americas Shield, a multilateral alliance comprising more than 15 countries and led by the United States.”
For his part, the U.S. Secretary of State praised Peru’s accession to the alliance, describing it as “a shield that protects against threats targeting the sovereignty of these independent nations.” He added, “To confront transnational criminal groups, we must operate within the sovereign territories of those countries. We seek partnership with them, as this serves their interests, which is why we launched the Americas Shield initiative.”
Two days ago, in Colombia, where Rubio began his Latin American tour, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed two memoranda of understanding with his Colombian counterpart, Omar Polanía Escobar, regarding cooperation between the two countries in the fields of rare minerals and civilian nuclear energy. The first memorandum is a “framework agreement” between the governments of the United States and Colombia “to ensure supplies in the mining and processing of critical minerals and rare earth elements,” while the second focuses on “strategic civilian cooperation between the government of Colombia and the government of the United States.”
During his stop in Ecuador, Rubio noted that the Trump administration is seeking to secure an additional $45 million in security funding for the Ecuadorian government, along with providing equipment to assist in combating drug trafficking. During his visit to Ecuador, Rubio also announced that the United States had imposed sanctions on seven former Ecuadorian officials implicated in bribery cases. He further announced the designation of the Ecuador-based gang “Los Tiguerones” as a “foreign terrorist organization” and a “specially designated global terrorist entity,” following similar designations of two other gangs in Ecuador last year. (End)
