Overview
- Forces from Peru, the United States, Chile and Argentina are conducting joint jungle and riverine training near Tarapoto as part of Vanguardia Sur 2026, an exercise organized by Peru’s Quinta Brigada de Protección de la Amazonía with U.S. Southern Command support.
- Organizers say the aim is to standardize procedures and improve coordination so multinational units can act together against transnational threats such as drug trafficking, illegal mining and organized criminal networks.
- Troops are practicing extreme jungle patrols, survival techniques and amphibious river crossings, and the exercise will culminate on September 18 with a high-pressure simulated operation to infiltrate and neutralize a high-value criminal target.
- Peruvian officials repeatedly frame the activity as a training event rather than an operational foreign deployment to address domestic sensitivities about foreign troops on Peruvian soil.
- Peru contributes decades of Amazon experience drawn from Alto Huallaga and VRAEM operations, which organizers say helps teach mobility, intelligence and survival tactics that are central to the multinational drills and regional capacity building.