Rubio to visit Colombia, Ecuador and Peru next week

Sept 4 - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Latin America next week, visiting Ecuador and meeting a pair of newly elected presidents in Colombia and Peru in his first trips to those two countries as America's top diplomat, the State Department said on Friday.Rubio, who has made four prior trips to Latin America and the Caribbean as secretary of state, will travel Tuesday to Thursday, the State Department said in a statement.He was scheduled to meet with Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella, who took office on August 7, to discuss U.S. support for Colombia's earthquake response.A quake struck Colombia three days after de la Espriella was sworn in, killing about 300 people, injuring thousands and causing damage across western and central parts of the country.Rubio will also meet Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, who was inaugurated on July 28, and Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa, whom he previously met on a trip to Ecuador in 2025.The Latin American trip will also address drug trafficking and trade, the State Department said.It did not mention neighboring Venezuela, where the United States has become deeply involved since capturing former President Nicolas Maduro in a January military raid and bringing him to the U.S. to face drug-trafficking charges. REUTERS