US Reinforces Control Over Peru

On June 7, 2021, a political earthquake occurred in Peru. A political outsider, the rural teacher Pedro Castillo, was elected president of the country with the promise of transforming a political and economic system built on great inequalities among the Peruvian population.

The first measure taken by this government was the initiative of Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar to leave the Lima Group, which weakened the regime change operation against Venezuela, initiated by the United States. The foreign minister’s sovereign decision would cost him his job. Just 15 days after taking office, he was dismissed by Congress.

This act of geopolitical bravado in a country where submission to imperialism traditionally reigns was to be the last such act during Pedro Castillo’s months in office. Constantly under attack from the legislative, judicial, economic and media powers, the president abandoned the foreign policy front to career diplomats who repeated the traditional lines of his predecessors.

However, this initial transgression was not to Washington’s liking. Despite not having bad relations with the government of Pedro Castillo, uncertainty about what might happen led the empire to precipitate the overthrow of the Peruvian teacher.

The participation of the United States in the coup against Castillo on December 7, 2022 is evinced by the activities of then US Ambassador Lisa Kenna in the days prior to the coup. That week, she met with former Minister of Defense Nicolás Bobbio, the President of Congress William Zapata, former Attorney General Patricia Benavides, and other key figures in the conspiracy.

Once the coup was consummated and Dina Boluarte was sworn in as president, the United States, through a telephone call from the head of the State Department, Antony Blinken, was the first country to recognize her as president.

Since the beginning of Dina Boluarte’s administration, the US hold on Peru has been significantly strengthened.

Former Ambassador Lisa Kenna, Chargé d’Affaires John McNamara and the recently appointed Ambassador Stephanie Syptak-Ramnath held and continue to hold weekly meetings with ministers, high commanders of the armed forces and police, as well as authorities of the Congress, the judiciary, and directors of autonomous institutions such as the National Jury of Elections. The work of the US embassy transcends the limits of diplomatic behavior between sovereign countries, constituting a clear interference.

During these almost two years of Boluarte’s de facto government, the United States has reinforced its presence and control over Peruvian territory through constant coordination with the National Police and the Armed Forces. Thus, in March 2023, just a few months after the coup against Castillo, the Ministry of the Interior and the US embassy established a commitment to cooperate on urban security and the fight against drug trafficking. This agreement included the visit of Todd Robinson, undersecretary of State for the Bureau of Counternarcotics Affairs, who met with the minister of the Interior, Victor Torres, to schedule “training” for the Peruvian police and to eradicate 25,000 hectares of coca leaf crops.

In the area of defense, US interference has been even greater.

On May 19, 2023, the Peruvian Congress approved Legislative Resolution 4 766, which authorizes the deployment of US troops in Peru. Since that date, 1,500 US Army soldiers have been operating on Peruvian soil for training, joint maneuvers, territorial deployment, and covert operations. In December 2023, Congress voted to extend the US military occupation until December 2024.

In September 2023, Dina Boluarte held a meeting with US Special Advisor for the Americas Chris Dodds. Dodds’ visit was aimed at strengthening the Alliance for Economic Prosperity, a strategy promoted by the United States in an attempt to counteract Latin American integration and reinforce the free market agenda in the region. In January 2023, a few days after Castillo’s overthrow, Boluarte added Peru to this initiative, which has the support of only 11 countries out of the 35 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The same month, on September 17, 2023, US Southern Command chief, General Laura Richardson, met with Peru’s Minister of Defense, Jorge Chávez, to discuss security cooperation.

The meeting was attended by the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, General Manuel Gomez, senior commanders of the armed forces and the commanders of the Peruvian air force, navy and army. US Chargé d’Affaires to Peru John McNamara also participated in the meeting. General Richardson also visited the Naval Medical Research Unit SUR (Namru Sur), a US biolaboratory located in the Peruvian Amazon. This unique scientific unit is one of three of the US Navy worldwide. The Namru Sur team works on infectious disease research and surveillance.

In October 2023, one month after Richardson’s visit, Special Operations Command South, the unit that controls all Special Operations Forces within US SouthCom, conducted an exercise with the Peruvian Joint Task Force. A variety of weapons was used for the exercise, from 7.62mm M240L machine guns to FN SCAR assault rifles, as well as Accuracy International AW and Knight’s Armament M110 SASS precision rifles.

Also in October 2023, Peru’s defense minister, Jorge Chávez, met with then White House senior advisor for Latin America, Juan González, as well as the deputy assistant secretaries for the Western Hemisphere at the State and Defense departments, Mark Wells and Daniel Erikson, and the then president of the Council of Ministers, Alberto Otarola, and announced the cooperation of the Peruvian Air Force with its US counterpart to grant it control of Peruvian airspace, under the pretext of the fight against drug trafficking.

As a result of these meetings, Juan González declared that the United States “considered the presence of Dina Boluarte at the APEC summit in November 2024 to be important,” which implied that the US would not support Boluarte’s dismissal.

In 2024, members of the US Space Force visited Peru with the aim of the creation of a spaceport within the El Pato base in Talara, in the north of the country, home of Petroperu’s refinery. This spaceport would operate under a concession to the United States for an initial period of 20 years, which reinforces the military control that the US maintains over Peruvian territories and aerospace sovereignty.

Containing China’s influence

Peru is a geopolitical battleground between the United States and China. For years it had been a model of ultra-liberalism where Washington knew no commercial rival. However, trade between China and Peru went from $704.6 million in 2000 to $36.7 billion in 2023. For the past decade, China has been Peru’s largest trading partner. Chinese companies focus on mining, energy, and now infrastructure. Although Peru has had governments aligned with the United States since the fall of General Velasco, China has managed to control strategic sectors of the Peruvian economy.

In this scenario, Washington has deployed its political influence to contain the Chinese advance. In November 2023, the United States expressed concern that China is gaining control over critical parts of Peru’s infrastructure, including the entire electricity supply to Lima and the mega-port of Chancay, a port hub that will link South America with Asia.

A source close to the Boluarte government told the Financial Times that “Chinese capital has acquired electricity, mining and other companies. Geopolitically speaking, US concerns would be justified.”

Gonzalo Ríos Polastri, deputy general manager of Cosco Shipping Ports Chancay Peru, a joint venture whose majority shareholder is the Chinese public company Cosco Shipping, said that China’s investment in Chancay is “100% commercial,” and added: “This is an investment by private companies according to the rules of the market. It may have different geopolitical readings, but it is not an investment that has any kind of implication for national security.” Although Ríos Polastri’s defense is part of a free trade framework, Washington cannot hide its discomfort with the construction of the port of Chancay.

Everything indicates that the Peruvian government will remain ambivalent about the mega-port and Chinese investments. While it is true that Boluarte was received in Beijing by President Xi Jinping in July 2024, some sectors of her own government tried to pressure her or bring about a collapse of the project, and Boluarte did nothing to stop these efforts or to set a geopolitical course for her government.

In April 2024, there was an attempt to exert pressure through the National Port Authority (APN), which sued Cosco Shipping following a consultation with the Olaechea law firm, whose portfolio of clients includes US companies such as Blackrock, JP Morgan, and General Electric. The maneuver sought to take away from China the exclusivity of port services within the facilities of the port of Chancay.

The National Port Authority is under the Ministry of Transportation, whose Minister Raul Pérez is married to Isaura Delgado Brayfield, a US national and manager of the American Chamber of Commerce in Peru, which groups together 580 companies of Peru. The Peruvian government has no cohesive geopolitical vision, a reality that allowed this exercise of pressure.

Illustrative of the positions adverse to the port of Chancay within the government are the statements made by Peru’s ambassador in Washington, Alfredo Ferrero, who in June 2024 told Bloomberg, “One hundred percent of Lima’s electricity is Chinese-owned, many of the copper mining projects are also Chinese. China will have the largest port in South America. That is the objective situation and the United States has noticed it. But it is not enough to realize it, it is necessary to act.”

In this interview, the ambassador urged US investors to invest in the port of Corio, in the south of Peru, because “it would serve as a counterweight to the Chinese Chancay project.”

More recently, in June 2024, Jana Nelson, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, Peru’s Minister of Defense Walter Astudillo, and the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, General David Ojeda, organized the Bilateral Defense Working Group to promote defense cooperation and port security.

The United States also had representatives from its major ports attend an event sponsored by the Peruvian government to discuss port security issues. This event on the subject comes just a few months after the inauguration of the Chancay port hub.

In September 2024, the US ambassador highlighted the meetings held with the BlackRock investment fund and Peruvian authorities to discuss its investments in the ports of Matarani and Salaverry in southern Peru, as part of a campaign that seeks to lower the profile of the Chancay port and establish direct competition for the export of minerals and soybeans to Asia.

Also noteworthy is the visit to Lima of Carlos Días Rosillo, former director of Public Policy at the White House during Donald Trump’s term, currently director of the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom, who met with the chief of Advisors of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Aldo Prieto. During his stay, Días Rosillo held a workshop at the University of Lima and gave an interview on a private channel. In both, he attacked China. “With the effort of the United States to bring companies that for many years went to China, there is an enormous opportunity for Peru and for Latin America from the economic and national security point of view,” he declared in front of the students.

He also highlighted the campaign on the so-called “illegal fishing from China.” In September 2024, the National Society of Artisanal Fishing of Peru (Sonapescal) warned about giant squid fishing by the Chinese fleet, without authorization to enter the Peruvian coast, claiming that “China has been able to greatly reduce its costs because it has been systematically allowed to enter Peru to do logistical work without complying with national regulations.” This news was widely reported in the Peruvian press and by politicians who have already proposed to set up investigative commissions.

Since 2023, in the framework of the multinational exercise Resolute Sentinel 2023, members of the Peruvian Navy and the US Forces carried out joint action flights with the objective of identifying a “foreign fishing fleet” dedicated to squid fishing, and confirmed that these are operating outside the 200 nautical miles of the Peruvian maritime domain.

It is worth noting that since 2017, the US Security Strategy warned about the need to “maintain the freedom of the seas to ensure the security of its country and its allies.” Since that time, the fight against illegal fishing has become for the Southern Command a tool for intervention and control of the maritime domain of the Western Hemisphere. In her recent tours in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru, Laura Richardson emphasized the fight against “illegal fishing,” mainly Chinese, on the Pacific coast of South America. In Peru, not only the government but also the media and politicians of all ideological persuasions have bowed to the imperial and sinophobic vision put forward by the United States.

On September 27, 2024, the government issued Decree 014-2014 with the aim of reinforcing satellite monitoring of foreign vessels in Peruvian territorial waters. This measure was agreed with the Chinese embassy in Peru, but it continues to cause controversy in Congress. While Peru has every right to reinforce its sovereignty and control its maritime border, the emergence of an intense media campaign on the issue coincides with the preparations for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum and the arrival of Xi Jinping in Lima. A “strange” coincidence given that the problem has persisted for many years.

On the other hand, it cannot be ignored that former Peruvian Navy officials are associates in the Chancay port project. Several former chief admirals are now the visible faces of the joint venture created to build and administer the port hub. Their counterparts in Congress are ardent supporters of this new infrastructure and of the partnership with China. In other words, the Navy is in charge of patrolling and guarding the maritime border against possible attacks by Chinese vessels, while high-ranking officials of this institution do business with China, a conflict of interests about which the recent media campaign is trying to create a narrative.

The de facto president is at a crossroads. Amid a crisis of legitimacy, an economic crisis and a crisis of governance, she owes her permanence in power to a corrupt pact with Congress and unconditional alignment with the United States. However, this triple crisis has driven international investors away from Peru. Its only way out is to try to get closer to China to reactivate economic cooperation between the two countries. It is a very risky exercise of political acrobatics, which could have consequences at the end of her mandate or on her judicial future.

All powers of the Peruvian state are with the US

Currently, the influence of the United States transcends relations with the government and encompasses all branches and institutions of the Peruvian state.

In the judicial sphere, for example, on April 2, 2024, the director of the National Coordination of Specialized Prosecutors for Corruption Crimes met with FBI Special Agent Alejandra Sánchez, coordinator of the FBI’s Transnational Anti-Corruption Program. While the country was learning about the “Rolexgate” scandal, this meeting demonstrated more the interest in strengthening pressure tools against future leaders than in eradicating corruption.

Similarly, the diplomatic services in Washington maintain constant relations with the National Board of Justice, the National Electoral Jury, and the National Office of Electoral Processes. The US Embassy is the only diplomatic mission in Peru to have such a sustained agenda of interference in the public powers.

The mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaga, of the conservative Renovación Popular party, has increased the capital city’s cooperation with the US embassy.In his first months in office, he has promoted the participation of US diplomatic personnel in the implementation of “common pots,” food aid organizations in the poorest areas of the city. Through the geolocation of their headquarters and the distribution of food, Washington was able to forge ties of cooperation and control with the social leaders of Lima’s shantytowns.

As for the United States’ relationship with Congress, in March 2024, the parliamentarians welcomed a delegation of their US counterparts to sign a cooperation agreement that, in practice, allows the US to meddle in the internal affairs of Peru. According to the US embassy, this agreement will allow the US to “support transparency, the rule of law and promote free and fair elections” in Peru.

The president of the Peruvian Congress, Alejandro Soto, described the agreement as a “strategic alliance.” Both neoliberal parliamentarians and the supposedly “anti-imperialist” Peruvian left were present at the signing ceremony.

A month later, in April 2024, through Legislative Resolution 6672, Congress ratified the agreement between Peru and the United States signed by the Boluarte government that allows the United States to intercept and shoot down light aircraft in total freedom.

Under the pretext of the fight against drugs, Washington is extending its dominion over Peruvian airspace.

Alignment with US foreign policy

Appointed as president by the powers that organized the coup against Castillo, Boluarte holds the record of unpopularity in the region. Only 5% of the population supports her, mainly the wealthy classes of the country. The massive and cross-class rejection led her to negotiate her survival with the ultra-right sectors in Congress, the private mining sector and agro-exporters, and diplomatically with the United States.

This is reflected in Peru’s position on the world scene, where it aligned itself with Washington’s position on the massacre that the Zionist entity is committing in Gaza, the elections in Venezuela, and the war in Ukraine.

In the case of Venezuela, Peru was the first country to recognize the far-right Edmundo González as president after the July 28 elections, an extremist position from which Preu withdrew later, following the steps of the US State Department. Similarly, while “Israel” continues its war and massacres in West Asia, the satellite countries of the United States signed a communiqué at the UN General Assembly condemning the constitutional government of Venezuela. Peru joined the 30 countries that strictly adhere to Washington’s foreign policy in the region.

In the case of the war in Ukraine that had started while Pedro Castillo was president, Peru has been more cautious. As soon as the coup against Castillo was consummated, Southcom requested Dina Boluarte to deliver part of the Peruvian Armed Forces’ armament of Russian origin to Ukraine. Since the times of General Juan Velasco Alvarado, Peru has had a lot of Russian and/or ex-Soviet military material, in all the branches of the armed forces and, particularly, in the air force. The military was not willing to risk spare supply chains in case the government decided to support Ukraine and join the war against Russia.

However, in October 2024, Defense Minister Walter Astudillo requested a credit of $3.5 billion to renew the Peruvian Air Force fleet with 24 multirole fighters: 20 single-seat and 4 twin-seat. The country currently has Mirage 2000P/DP fighters, acquired from France in 1982, and, MiG-29S/SMP Fulcrum C and Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot, acquired from Russia. The US company Lockeed Martin and the Swedish Saab are leading the preferences of the Peruvian government.In the same month, Peru received a donation from the United States of nine UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters that will add to or replace the Russian or ex-Soviet helicopters currently in possession of the Peruvian Air Force.

The purchase of the aircraft and the delivery of the helicopters will be a major geopolitical turning point as Peru would no longer need to depend on the Russian supply chain, and would become more dependent on the West.

A country under control, for now

With the fall of Castillo, the United States took advantage of Boluarte’s misrule to reinforce its presence and control over a strategic country in South America. Peru has borders with five countries of the continent and enormous natural resources and fresh water. It is also the second largest producer of cocaine (after Colombia), which offers the US a pretext for interference in the name of the fight against drug trafficking.

Castillo’s unexpected rise to power demonstrated a flaw in the political system of Washington’s best student in the region. The enormous inequalities and the economic crisis make the people of Peru aspire to structural changes as well. It was for this reason that the United States decided to strengthen its hegemony and, at the same time, try to contain the growing influence of China in the country. Thanks to the current de facto government, the US has succeeded for now. At least until the next electoral surprise.