Citizens reject him as President Fujimori announces Peru will join Trump’s Shield of the Americas.
On Thursday, progressive social and political organizations called on Peruvians to protest against the presence in Lima of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
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In the center of the capital, people held sit-ins and marches rejecting the Trump administration official. “Marco Rubio, get out of Peru!” was one of the chants shouted through megaphones and highlighted on signs carried by citizens who also shouted slogans in support of Palestine and Cuba.
“Our security depends on us, not Washington! Keiko is incapable of doing her job!” journalist and social activist Lia Valderrama posted on social media.
Amid the public rejection that began Wednesday, Rubio and Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori held a joint news conference in which they announced areas of cooperation between their countries.
More specifically, Fujimori confirmed that Peru will join the Shield of the Americas, the anti-crime coalition that brings together 15 countries with right-wing governments allied with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Manifestantes se concentraron en la Plaza San Martín para protestar contra la visita del secretario de Estado de Estados Unidos, Marco Rubio, y cuestionar la política exterior de Washington en América Latina.
Con banderas y pancartar, rechazaron la presencia del… pic.twitter.com/iWIVJZpYxf
— La República (@larepublica_pe) September 10, 2026
The text reads, “Demonstrators gathered in San Martin Square to protest the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and to question Washington’s foreign policy toward Latin America. Carrying flags and banners, they rejected the official’s presence and denounced alleged U.S. interference in the region.”
“We know the need to join efforts with other countries. We appreciate the actions and assistance that the Southern Command will deploy, as well as the support we have already been receiving from the FBI, the DEA and other federal agencies,” said the daughter of dictator Alberto Fujimori.
The Peruvian president also mentioned that the Shield of the Americas “is essential because it relaunches joint efforts and will allow us to obtain information more quickly and act more firmly.”
“I believe we have the possibility in our hands to enter a very important, very historic era in everything we can achieve together,” said the U.S. secretary of state, who hours earlier highlighted Peru’s incorporation into the Shield of the Americas.
“It is support for all the member countries of the region to strengthen our borders and jointly fight transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking,” he said.
Before arriving in the Andean country, Rubio directly attacked Peru’s cooperation with other nations, “especially China,” a country he accused of making “promises that conceal its predatory practices.”
In response, the Chinese Embassy in Peru rejected those reckless assertions and stressed that the Asian country “has never acted with geopolitical calculations, has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries and has never demanded that other countries take sides or choose a camp.”
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – teleSUR
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