he Briefing
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio wraps up a three-nation South American tour on Thursday, September 10, meeting Peru's Keiko Fujimori in Lima after sitting down with Ecuador's Daniel Noboa in Quito on Wednesday and Colombia's Abelardo de la Espriella in Barranquilla on Tuesday.
- All three governments took power within the past 14 months and are widely described as aligned with the Trump administration; this marks Rubio's first trip to either Colombia or Peru while holding the secretary of state post.
- Counter-narcotics cooperation and trade headline every stop, though Washington has released few concrete figures beyond a $1 billion Colombia security package and last year's roughly $19.5 million commitment to Ecuador.
- Peru's leg adds an unusual item: joint planning around this year's El Niño weather pattern, days after Fujimori oversaw the deployment of 25 emergency bridge structures.