U.S. Embassy in Peru

Commander of U.S. Southern Command to visit Peru for talks on bilateral security partnership

MIAMI – U.S. Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) will visit Peru Sept. 13-15, 2023, for meetings with senior government and military leaders to discuss the United States’s longstanding defense partnership with Peru’s Armed Forces.

During the three-day visit, Richardson is scheduled to meet with Peruvian Government and Armed Forces leadership to discuss security cooperation topics of mutual interest, including collaboration against transnational criminal organizations and institutional capacity-building engagements.

The meetings will serve as an opportunity to hear from Peruvian leaders, understand their perspectives regarding the country’s security successes and challenges, and further strengthen defense cooperation.

The visit is Richardson’s first to Perú since assuming command of SOUTHCOM in 2021 and comes one month after her bilateral meeting with Gen. Gomez during the 2023 South American Defense Conference in Cartagena, Colombia.

Richardson’s arrival in Perú also comes on the heels of a high-level Peruvian defense delegation visit to the U.S. capital, led by Minister Chavez, in August.

The general’s agenda includes a Peruvian hosted panel discussion on the integration of women in peace, defense and security missions, as well as visits to the National Control Center for Disaster Response (COEN) and Aeronautic Maintenance Service (SEMAN).

The armed forces of the U.S. and Perú have an enduring and ever-growing security partnership focused on mutually beneficial goals and shared interests; including maritime security; cyber defense; disaster preparedness; humanitarian assistance; peacekeeping; human rights; countering illegal, underreported, and unregulated fishing; and disrupting the international smuggling activities of transnational criminal organizations.