Peru will join the US-led Shield of the Americas, a regional security alliance that cooperates in intelligence sharing and military operations against drug cartels.
Keiko Fujimori, Peru’s recently elected right-wing leader, announced the move on Thursday after a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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“I appreciate this opportunity (to join the initiative) because for us, we have had to fight terrorism before and we know how difficult it is to fight crime today,” Fujimori said.
Her government also awarded Rubio the Order of the Sun, one of the country’s highest civilian honors.
Rubio’s visit to Peru’s capital Lima caps off a three-day tour of three South American countries aimed at strengthening ties with US President Donald Trump and his conservative allies in the region.
The diplomat praised Fujimori’s decision to join Shield of the Americas, also known as the American Coalition Against Cartels (ACCC), which advocates for greater military involvement in the fight against crime.
“This is a shield against threats to the sovereignty of independent states,” Rubio explained.
“It’s a shield against transnational criminal organizations, which often have more money and better military equipment than nation states. That’s unacceptable. The only way to defeat it is to fight back forcefully.”
Fujimori, a former first lady and the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, was sworn in in July after campaigning extensively on security-related issues.
Peru is the world’s second-largest producer of cocaine after Colombia, and reports of crimes such as extortion have increased sharply in recent years.
However, Washington’s involvement in the region remains a controversial prospect, given its history of past interventions and support for right-wing leaders accused of human rights abuses.
Al Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo explained that closer cooperation also raises concerns about the potential erosion of Latin America’s sovereignty.
“This has created a lot of fear among many people in this part of the world about what the implications of greater U.S. influence, U.S. military influence, would be,” she said.
Rubio sought to tamp down those concerns during his visit, saying the U.S. would only intervene with permission from local authorities.
“We’re not going to do anything that our partners don’t ask us to do,” Rubio said. “We don’t want to do more than what you’re asking us to do, but we’re not going to do more than you’re asking us to do.”
Despite this, demonstrators gathered in Lima outside the official residence where Fujimori and Rubio were meeting. Some held placards that read, “Marco Rubio Get Out of Peru, No to the Shield of the Americas.”
“We have said that Peru is no one’s colony and is not the backyard of any country in the world,” said Soledad Lozano, one of the protesters.
The Trump administration has also said it wants countries like Peru to distance themselves from China, which has overtaken the United States as Peru’s main trading partner.
For example, in February, the Trump administration criticized Peru for allowing China to build a megaport in Chancay, warning that “cheap Chinese money will cost us sovereignty.”
“China is currently making large-scale investments in Peru,” Bo explained. “They control a port 80 kilometers from Lima, and what the United States is trying to do is increase its presence in the Western Hemisphere and try to reduce the economic dependence that many countries in Latin America have on China.”
Peru is important not only to the United States’ security strategy in Latin America, but also to its economic interests. It is the world’s third largest producer of copper and an important source of mineral resources.
In January, Washington designated Peru a major non-NATO ally, and the U.S. State Department approved a potential $1.5 billion foreign military sale for work at Callao Naval Base, Peru’s main naval base near Lima.
