Defense Secretary Robert Gates has begun a Latin America trip with the aim of strengthening regional US military ties. Gates met with top officials in Peru on Wednesday before traveling to Colombia. Gates’ trip comes on the heels of a new military cooperation deal between the US and Brazil signed earlier this week. Speaking in Peru, Gates denied US military agreements pose a threat to the region.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates: “The purpose of my trip here in South America is a positive purpose, and it is to strengthen our friendship and our military-to-military cooperation with Peru and Colombia. These arrangements between ourselves and Brazil, ourselves and Peru, ourselves and Colombia, are about these countries, not about anybody else.”