Washington, Oct 6, SPA -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Lima, Peru on Friday for a day-long visit with top Peruvian officials after previous stops in Chile, Colombia, and El Salvador. Gates was scheduled to meet President Alan Garcia, Defense Minister Alan Wagner, and other top military officials for talks on security, Peruvian officials said. Gates began his five-country tour of Latin America with a visit Monday to the Salvadoran capital of San Salvador. The other stops were not publicly announced. Officials in Surinam told AFP that Gates is expected to arrive there on Saturday. Gates, who succeeded Donald Rumsfeld in December, had been scheduled to visit Latin America in July but postponed the trip to remain in Washington as Congress and the Bush administration bitterly debated the Iraq conflict.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/488458