Hegseth Urges 18 Latin American Nations to Join U.S. Anti-Cartel Operations
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 12
Hegseth Urges 18 Latin American Nations to Join U.S. Anti-Cartel Operations
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 12
Summary
Panama hosted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as he pressed military leaders from 18 countries to expand joint operations aimed at what he called “narco-terrorist networks.”
Hegseth said Honduras and Colombia had agreed to joint operations, extending a Trump administration campaign that already launched missions with Ecuador and pushed Guatemala toward possible U.S. airstrikes.
The Pentagon last week created Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere to widen that effort after a yearlong campaign in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that carried out 66 boat strikes and killed at least 221 people.
Those strikes face legal and human-rights criticism because suspected traffickers are civilians under international law, while a recent investigation found cocaine remains widely available in the United States.
The push marks a broader Trump shift from treating traffickers as criminals to enemy combatants, even as Mexico and Brazil remain outside the coalition and past U.S.-led drug wars have struggled to curb supply.