US Defense Minister: Colombia Agrees to Joint Anti-Drug Operations

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Wednesday that Colombia has agreed to conduct joint military operations with the United States targeting drug cartels, a move that expands Washington’s campaign against smugglers in Latin America.

Speaking at a conference in Panama on combating drug cartels, Hegseth said that Bogotá had “requested the Pentagon join Colombia in its war against the terrorism of drug trafficking” and authorized joint military operations to dismantle terrorist networks.

He described such “firm and concrete steps” as embodying the kind of effective, operationally focused partnership models that the United States hopes to see from its allies.

In a post on X accompanied by photos of the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Mora, Hegseth stated that Colombia had officially joined the Americas Alliance to Combat Cartels.

For his part, Colombia’s newly elected president, Abigail de la Espriella, pledged to eradicate criminal groups profiting from drug trafficking, amid the worst wave of violence the South American country has seen in a decade. He also announced that he would halt the unsuccessful peace negotiations conducted by his predecessor with armed rebel groups and would relentlessly combat “drug terrorism.”

With this development, Colombia has followed Peru’s lead in joining the “Americas Shield,” a coalition of Latin American countries allied with Donald Trump to militarily combat drug trafficking.