Rubio caps Latin America tour in Lima; Fujimori announces Peru's coalition membership

Rubio closed his three-country tour in Lima on 10 September, meeting President Keiko Fujimori, who announced Peru's participation in the Shield of the Americas / Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, saying membership would give Peru faster access to intelligence and let authorities 'respond more firmly' to organized crime operating across borders: 'We appreciate this opportunity, because for us, having previously had to tackle terrorism, we know how difficult it is to confront criminality today.' Rubio called the coalition 'a shield against these transnational criminal groups that, in many cases, have more money and better military equipment than the state.' The two also discussed education, infrastructure investment and bilateral trade. Wire coverage (Al Jazeera, MercoPress, UPI) framed this as Peru's accession; the tracker's own August sourcing already recorded Peru as the coalition's 18th member from 5 August, so this Lima announcement most likely formalizes or reaffirms a membership reported five weeks earlier rather than a first-time accession — see the 'peru-membership-accession-date' claim.