Peru joins US-led ‘Shield of the Americas’ security alliance

The Fujimori administration is the latest right-wing government to join the alliance, which promises a more aggressive approach against crime in the Americas.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Peru’s President Keiko Fujimori give a thumbs-up during a news conference at the Government Palace in Lima on September 10, 2026 [AFP]

Peru will join the “Shield of the Americas”, a regional security alliance led by the United States that shares intelligence and cooperates in military operations against drug cartels.

Keiko Fujimori, Peru’s recently elected right-wing leader, announced the move on Thursday after talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

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“We appreciate this opportunity [to join the initiative], because for us, having previously had to tackle terrorism, [we] know how difficult it is to confront criminality today,” Fujimori said.

Her government also awarded Rubio the Order of the Sun, one of the country’s highest civilian honours.

Rubio’s visit to the Peruvian capital, Lima, caps his three-day, three-country tour of South America to shore up ties between US President Donald Trump and conservative allies in the region.

The diplomat praised Fujimori’s decision to join the Shield of the Americas, also known as the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC), which has advocated for greater military involvement in the fight against crime.

“It is a shield against these threats to the sovereignty of these independent nations,” Rubio explained.

“It is a shield against these transnational criminal groups that, in many cases, have more money and better military equipment than the state. That is unacceptable, and the only way to defeat it is to confront it forcefully.”

Fujimori, a former first lady and the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, was sworn into office in July after campaigning heavily on security-related issues.

Peru is the world’s second-largest producer of cocaine, behind Colombia, and reports of crimes like extortion have spiked in recent years.

But Washington’s involvement in the region remains a controversial prospect, given its history of past interventions and its support of right-wing leaders accused of human rights abuses.

Al Jazeera correspondent Teresa Bo explained that the closer cooperation has also raised concerns about the prospect of eroding Latin American sovereignty.

“This has generated lots of fear among many people in this part of the world of what a greater influence of the United States, of what a military influence of the United States, could bring about,” she said.

Rubio attempted to tamp down those concerns during his visit, saying the US would only intervene with the permission of 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 less than what you ask of us, but we’re not going to do more than what you ask of us.”

Nevertheless, in Lima, protesters gathered outside the government house where Fujimori’s meeting with Rubio was taking place. Some carried signs that read, “Marco Rubio out of Peru, no to Shield of the Americas.”

“We have said that Peru is nobody’s colony, and it is not the back garden of any country in the world,” Soledad Lozano, one of the protesters, said.

The Trump administration has also indicated that it would like countries like Peru distance themselves from China, which overtook the US as Peru’s primary trading partner.

In February, for instance, the Trump administration criticised Peru for allowing China to construct a mega-port in Chancay, warning that “cheap Chinese money costs sovereignty”.

“China has major investments in Peru right now,” Bo explained. “It controls a port that is 80km away from Lima, and what the US is trying to do is increase its presence in the Western Hemisphere and to try to cut a bit of economic dependency that many countries in Latin America have with China.”

Peru is critical not only to US security strategy in Latin America, but also to its economic interests. It is an important source of mineral resources, as the world’s third-largest producer of copper.

In January, Washington designated ⁠Peru a major non-NATO ally, and the US ⁠State Department approved a possible $1.5bn foreign military sale for work at Callao Naval Base, Peru’s main naval hub near Lima.

藤森政府是最新加入该联盟的右翼政府，该联盟承诺对美洲的犯罪采取更加强硬的措施。

2026年9月10日，美国国务卿马可·卢比奥和秘鲁总统藤森庆子在利马政府宫举行的新闻发布会上竖起大拇指。[法新社]

秘鲁将加入“美洲之盾”组织，这是一个由美国领导的区域安全联盟，该联盟共享情报并在打击贩毒集团的军事行动中开展合作。

秘鲁新当选的右翼领导人藤森庆子在周四与美国国务卿马可·卢比奥会谈后宣布了这一举措。

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藤森表示：“我们很珍惜这次加入这项倡议的机会，因为我们之前曾与恐怖主义作斗争，所以我们深知如今打击犯罪有多么困难。”

她的政府还授予鲁比奥太阳勋章，这是该国最高的平民荣誉之一。

鲁比奥访问秘鲁首都利马，结束了他为期三天、横跨三个南美国家的访问，此行旨在加强美国总统唐纳德·特朗普与该地区保守派盟友之间的关系。

这位外交官赞扬了藤森决定加入“美洲之盾”（又称“美洲反卡特尔联盟”），该联盟一直倡导军队更多地参与打击犯罪。

“这是抵御这些独立国家主权威胁的盾牌，”鲁比奥解释说。

“这是抵御这些跨国犯罪集团的屏障，在很多情况下，这些集团拥有的资金和更先进的军事装备甚至超过国家。这是不可接受的，击败它们的唯一方法就是强力对抗。”

藤森是前第一夫人，也是前总统阿尔韦托·藤森的女儿。她在竞选期间大力宣传安全相关问题，并于7月宣誓就职。

秘鲁是世界第二大可卡因生产国，仅次于哥伦比亚，近年来，敲诈勒索等犯罪案件的报道激增。

但鉴于华盛顿过去干预该地区的历史以及其对被指控侵犯人权的右翼领导人的支持，华盛顿介入该地区的前景仍然充满争议。

半岛电视台记者特蕾莎·博解释说，更紧密的合作也引发了人们对拉丁美洲主权受到侵蚀的担忧。

她说：“这让世界这一地区的许多人感到恐惧，他们担心美国更大的影响力，美国的军事影响力，会带来什么后果。”

鲁比奥在访问期间试图平息这些担忧，称美国只会在得到地方当局许可的情况下才会进行干预。

“我们不会做合作伙伴没有要求我们做的事情，”鲁比奥说。“我们不想做得比你们要求的少，但我们也不会做得比你们要求的更多。”

然而，在利马，抗议者聚集在藤森与卢比奥会面的政府大楼外。一些抗议者举着标语，上面写着：“马可·卢比奥滚出秘鲁，反对美洲之盾”。

“我们说过，秘鲁不是任何人的殖民地，也不是世界上任何国家的后花园，”抗议者之一索莱达·洛萨诺说道。

特朗普政府也曾表示，希望秘鲁等国与中国保持距离，中国已经取代美国成为秘鲁的主要贸易伙伴。

例如，今年 2 月，特朗普政府批评秘鲁允许中国在昌凯建造一个巨型港口，并警告说“廉价的中国资金会损害国家主权”。

“中国目前在秘鲁有大量投资，”博解释说。“它控制着距离利马80公里的一个港口，而美国试图做的是增强其在西半球的影响力，并试图减少许多拉丁美洲国家对中国的经济依赖。”

秘鲁不仅对美国在拉丁美洲的安全战略至关重要，而且对其经济利益也至关重要。秘鲁是重要的矿产资源国，是世界第三大铜生产国。

今年一月，华盛顿将秘鲁指定为主要非北约盟友，美国国务院批准了一项价值 15 亿美元的对外军售，用于秘鲁卡亚俄海军基地（位于利马附近，是秘鲁的主要海军枢纽）的建设工作。