Sawt Falasteen - Rubio to visit Mexico, Ecuador next week to discuss migration, China

The US secretary of state will also travel to Ecuador to see US-friendly President Daniel Noboa and encourage the South American country to distance itself from China, a US official said.

Rubio on both stops will seek "swift and decisive action to dismantle cartels, halt fentanyl trafficking, end illegal immigration" and counter "malign extracontinental actors," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.

It will be the third visit to Latin America in seven months in office by Rubio, the first Latino secretary of state and an ardent foe of the region's leftists.

But Rubio, who doubles as Trump's national security advisor, has yet to visit neighboring Mexico, a crucial partner in the administration's crackdown on undocumented immigration.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Rubio will be in Mexico City on Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has forged a respectful if complicated relationship with Trump.

Sheinbaum has promised to work with Washington on tackling undocumented migration and drug trafficking. Trump has spoken highly of her, much as he did in his first term of her predecessor and fellow leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

But Sheinbaum has also rejected any "invasion" that threatens Mexico's sovereignty after Trump signed an order authorizing military force against cartels, which his administration has declared to be terrorist organizations.

Sheinbaum earlier this week suggested that Rubio would come to sign a security agreement.

Such a formal accord would lay out cooperation but also implicitly treat Mexico as a sovereign partner.

The US official played down potential for a major, formal agreement, saying the United States was looking at "down-in-the-weeds stuff" and not "declarations of sovereignty."

- US help in murder capital -

Rubio heads Wednesday to Ecuador for talks the following day with the administration of Noboa, who earlier this year secured a second term in office.

Ecuador has become the most dangerous country in South America, with more than 5,200 homicides recorded so far this year, according to a government tally.

Noboa has dispatched troops to target drug gangs and appealed for military help from Trump. In June, Ecuador's Congress amended the constitution to allow foreign bases.

The US official said the United States appreciated the invitation but not to "expect anything too dramatic" during Rubio's trip on a troop presence.

Rubio was an outspoken critic of former Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa, a leftist economist who served for a decade until 2017.

Ecuador had amassed billions of dollars in debt to China, becoming a partner in the Asian giant's Belt and Road infrastructure-building initiative.

The US official said Rubio would highlight Ecuador as a "case study on why you don't want to be dealing with the Chinese Communist Party."

Noboa met Chinese President Xi Jinping in June and called for deeper relations. The US official said Rubio would not press Ecuador to exit Belt and Road formally but believed Noboa wanted a new direction.

Rubio will "try to help him do what he wants to do already, which is, how does he get out from under this giant albatross he has on his economy," the official said.

I.Matar--SF-PST