Defense ministers from 33 countries of the Americas met in Cusco, Peru, July 7-10, where the Trump administration unsuccessfully pressed the hemisphere to adopt its anti-narcoterrorism war framing.
Speaking at the conference, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby told the assembled ministers that the United States would not treat what he called “the ISIS, the al-Qaeda of this Hemisphere” with kid gloves, and pledged to bring “all assets of the United States” to bear against them, in part through “partner-led, joint kinetic operations” with the region’s militaries, according to his remarks as published by the U.S. Department of War. He asked the ministers to protect the region’s minerals, infrastructure and energy from “extra-hemispheric powers"—meaning China—and to raise military spending toward the 3.5% of GDP now demanded of NATO members, citing Peru’s purchase of American F-16s as “a model for our Hemisphere.”
