By Simon Lewis, Julia Symmes Cobb and Humeyra Pamuk
BARRANQUILLA, Colombia, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The United States was hoping to wrap up "good, solid" trade deals in the foreseeable future with Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday, as he began a tour of the three Latin American countries whose leaders are closely aligned with President Donald Trump's administration.
Washington is stepping up security engagement with the region on issues including migration and drug trafficking amid an effort to reassert U.S. influence across Latin America that has seen U.S. forces capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro during a raid on Caracas early this year and ramp up economic pressure on Communist-led Cuba.
Rubio, speaking to reporters in Florida before embarking on the trip, defended U.S. involvement in Venezuela's oil sector, saying energy fields previously held by Chinese, Russian and Iranian companies could generate revenue for Venezuelans through partnership with the United States under a future democratically elected government.
Rubio later on Tuesday stepped off a plane, along with his wife, in the Colombian coastal city of Barranquilla, where he will meet right-wing President Abelardo De La Espriella before traveling later this week to Ecuador to meet President Daniel Noboa and then to Peru for talks with President Keiko Fujimori, who was inaugurated on July 28.
The visit comes at a moment of growing ideological alignment with all three nations, which Rubio said was part of a trend in the Western Hemisphere toward support for Washington's goals.
"We have a lot of common interests with them, both taking on regional transnational criminal terrorism and also economic engagements. We’re hoping to wrap up good, solid trade deals with all three of these countries in the foreseeable future," Rubio said.
RUBIO TO MEET 'THE TIGER'
The discussions come as Colombia is seeking relief from U.S. tariffs of 12.5% that took effect in July, which officials have said could affect Colombian exports.
De La Espriella, an anti-establishment figure who refers to himself as "The Tiger," was endorsed by Trump, and has asked the U.S. leader to suspend the tariff after a powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck the west of the country in August, just days after De La Espriella was sworn in.
The U.S. has said that it plans to provide $1 billion in security assistance to the new government.
De La Espriella, who has pledged a widespread crackdown on crime and drug trafficking and canceled peace talks with armed groups pursued by his leftist predecessor, has added Colombia to Trump's "Shield of the Americas," a military alliance of right-wing leaders pledging to fight drug trafficking.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has floated the possibility of joint strikes on Colombian armed groups, saying the South American country had authorized operations to destroy "terrorists and terror networks" including rebel groups like the National Liberation Army (ELN), which the U.S. designates as a terrorist group, and remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington and Julia Symmes Cobb in Bogota; additional reporting by Charlie Cordero in Barranquilla; Editing by Daphne Psaledakis and Cynthia Osterman)
