Secretary of State Marco Rubio just wrapped up his third trip to South America, carrying with him a $10 million anti-gang initiative for Ecuador and critical mineral deals for Colombia as the Trump administration moves to lock in alliances with the region’s new conservative governments.
Latin America has swung hard to the right since 2024, with conservative leaders taking power in Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Honduras. Some won their elections with President Donald Trump’s explicit endorsement. Now the administration is working to transform these ideological allies into active partners against drug trafficking, organized crime, and illegal immigration.
Enter Abelardo de la Espriella, the newly elected conservative president who holds American citizenship and campaigned on restoring the U.S. partnership. “Colombia wants to newly consolidate itself as the principal hemispheric partner for the United States on security,” de la Espriella said during his meeting with Rubio.
De la Espriella has already delivered on that promise. Last month, Colombia joined Trump’s Shield of the Americas, a hemispheric security coalition. The new president has also requested additional American training and intelligence coordination for counternarcotics operations. In exchange, he’s hoping for increased American private investment, a priority made more urgent after a major earthquake struck just three days after he took office.
Ecuador’s situation demanded equal attention. Once considered safe and stable, the country has watched crime explode over the past five years as cartels seized control of ports to move their product. Ecuador now ranks among the deadliest countries on earth. Criminal gangs have hijacked television broadcasts. They’ve taken over entire prison blocks.
President Daniel Noboa has tried cracking down with the kind of iron-fist approach that worked for El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele. So far, it hasn’t worked in Ecuador.
To help Noboa restore order, Rubio announced the $10 million U.S. initiative targeting gang recruitment and money laundering. The program will operate in partnership with the Ecuadorian government.
Rubio also visited Peru, where he met with the new administration of Keiko Fujimori, another right-leaning leader in the region’s conservative wave.
The administration has made clear that the Western Hemisphere remains a top foreign policy priority, even as events in the Middle East compete for attention. The strategy appears straightforward: reinforce governments that share American values and interests, then put those partnerships to work against the criminal networks flooding drugs and illegal migrants northward.
For everyday Americans watching fentanyl destroy their communities and illegal border crossings strain their towns, these diplomatic visits represent something concrete. A government that remembers its neighbors matter. And allies willing to fight the same enemies.
