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Colombia seeks U.S. strikes
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that Colombia’s newly inaugurated government has requested U.S. participation in joint military operations in Colombia to combat "narcoterrorism."
“Colombia has authorized joint military operations with the United States to target drug traffickers, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday”
Hegseth said the request would authorize joint military operations "to destroy terrorists and terror networks" as he spoke at an anti-cartel conference in Panama.
The announcement came as Colombia’s conservative president Abelardo de la Espriella promised to crush criminal groups profiting from drug trafficking amid the country’s worst wave of violence of the past decade.
Reuters reported that Hegseth floated the possibility of joint strikes on Colombian armed groups, replying "Yes" when asked if he had discussed joint strikes against the National Liberation Army (ELN) and remnants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Hegseth also said Colombia would join the "Shield of the Americas" initiative, becoming its 19th member.
Debate over ICC and legality
Hegseth urged Latin American countries at the meeting not to recognize the International Criminal Court, or ICC, and said such efforts "are entirely legal under international humanitarian law."
In Panama, Hegseth also attacked "international leftism" and urged Latin American partners to abandon the Rome Statute and, therefore, the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Gustavo Petro, who was not invited to the March summit that produced the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition, warned that international cooperation does not imply a "permit for foreigners" to take the lives of Colombians.
The Reuters account said critics have argued the U.S. strikes amount to war crimes worthy of the International Criminal Court, while Hegseth encouraged coalition allies to withdraw from it.
NBC 5 Chicago reported that the de la Espriella government did not immediately comment on the announcement in Panama, even as Hegseth said Colombia had requested U.S. collaboration in joint military operations.
What comes next for the coalition
The Pentagon chief said Colombia would become the 19th member of the Shield of the Americas, an anti-cartel alliance headed by Trump and made up of pro-US governments across Latin America, including Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador.
“announced plans on Friday to provide $1 billion in U.S. security assistance to his government”
Reuters said the Trump administration announced plans on Friday to provide $1 billion in U.S. security assistance to Colombia, tying the new partnership to the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition meeting in Panama.
AFP reported that the agreement was made official in Panama at an event where Hegseth and Colombia’s Defense Minister Jorge Mora signed a memorandum of understanding for Colombia’s adhesion.
The Reuters account also described how U.S. policy has expanded beyond early focus on the Panama Canal, and it said more than 200 people have been killed since the launch of U.S. military strikes on suspected drug boats last September.
In the same Reuters report, Panama President Jose Raul Mulino said, "There's never going to be a sustainable peace if this enemy (advances)," as he dismissed concerns that the U.S.-led coalition could infringe on members’ sovereignty.
