Hundreds of people have been killed in the year since the U.S. military began bombing boats it accused of ferrying drugs off Latin America’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts.

Now, the Trump administration says it is seeking to extend that lethal campaign to land, pursuing deals that would put U.S. forces on the ground in allied nations across the region.

President Donald Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced last week during a visit to Panama that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil, following Ecuador, which launched similar missions with the U.S. in March. Guatemala, however, has denied reaching such an agreement.

It will be “like you saw with the strikes on the drug boats,” Hegseth said during a military drill in the jungle in Panama. “Same effect on land. And so we’re working with Ecuador. We’re working with Colombia. We’re working with partners to bring the fight to the [designated terrorist organisations] on land.” The expansion marks a new phase in the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure governments across Latin America to align with its security priorities and assert what it calls “American dominance over the Western Hemisphere.” Voters across the region are increasingly embracing Trump-aligned leaders, giving Washington more willing partners. But critics warn that the widening US military campaign risks civilian casualties and a backlash against the U.S. that could outlast the Republican administration.

“What’s going on is an attempt to legitimise the increased use of the US military in the region,” said Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. “It projects power, demonstrates military superiority and enables Washington to impose its agenda. This is not cooperation, it’s obviously a very asymmetrical relationship.”

Escalating unilateral boat strikes to joint land operations

The U.S. military has operated in Latin America for generations, supplying allies with weapons, intelligence and training to fight drug trafficking, while leaving a fraught legacy of support for military coups and dictatorships.

But since Mr. Trump returned to office in January 2025, Washington has pursued its most interventionist approach to the region in decades.

His administration has designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as “foreign terrorist organisations,” sent U.S. forces into Venezuela to capture its president and involved CIA agents in drug lab busts in Mexico.

It has killed more than 200 people in over 60 boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, offering little evidence that those targeted were “narco-terrorists” and drawing questions about the strikes’ legality.

But sustained U.S. combat operations alongside local forces would be “new and different,” said William LeoGrande, a Latin America specialist at American University, testing deep-rooted sensitivities over national sovereignty and the presence of US troops.

Mr. Hegseth provided few details about what joint operations with Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras would look like. But in Colombia, where Trump-backed Abelardo de la Espriella took office this month, he raised the prospect of US forces joining strikes against armed groups including the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia’s last major guerrilla group. Hegseth said de la Espriella had requested greater U.S. military involvement.

“Anywhere you traffic drugs or you threaten the American people or our partners, you are a target just like ISIS or al-Qaida,” Hegseth said, equating drug traffickers with Islamic extremist groups that dominated US national security priorities for decades.

On Saturday, following a drone attack by the ELN on troops, de la Espriella vowed the rebels would “pay a high price.”

Concerns over US military presence in Latin America

Ecuador has emerged as the clearest case of direct U.S. military involvement, launching joint raids with Washington despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting foreign military bases in a November 2025 referendum. A New York Times investigation found that one strike on an alleged drug lab in March instead destroyed a cattle farm.

The push to extend such agreements has gained the most traction among Mr. Trump’s ideological allies in the region — conservative leaders elected on promises of aggressive crackdowns on crime in recent months.

Guatemala stands out as an exception. Its progressive government has worked closely with Washington on security despite political differences. But President Bernardo Arevalo has denied agreeing to joint anti-drug operations, saying they would be illegal without congressional approval.

Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador did not respond to requests for comment on Hegseth’s remarks.

A notable outlier from the new U.S. anti-trafficking alliance is Mexico, a major source and transit point for fentanyl and other drugs entering the U.S. Progressive President Claudia Sheinbaum has cooperated closely with Washington on security but resisted mounting pressure for a US military role in fighting cartels on Mexican soil.

“Ultimately, the United States will have to define what joint operations’ means in each of these countries. It may discover pretty quickly that this is something most governments — even governments on the right — are quite uncomfortable with,” said Adam Isacson, a defence analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America.

‘There is only so much sovereignty they can cede’

Observers question whether a more militarised approach would produce lasting security gains. Shifter said the campaign may serve partly as a show of force, building on the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the Trump administration seeks to offset foreign policy setbacks elsewhere, including in the West Asia.

Others warn the strategy risks civilian casualties, particularly in Colombia, where armed groups operate among civilian populations and often function as de facto authorities in areas beyond the state’s reach. Rather than beating back those groups, military strikes are more likely to force them to adapt, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of the Colombia-based investigative organisation InSight Crime.

“The U.S. bombs an ELN camp in Colombia or in Venezuela, what is the first thing the ELN are going to do? They’re going to dismantle all their camps and move into the villages and towns,” he said.

In the long term, experts say, deeper U.S. military involvement could test how far voters are willing to go in putting security over sovereignty, potentially constraining even Mr. Trump’s closest allies.

“All of these presidents, no matter how far right they are, face pressure to do something about security and to make a show of pursuing the ‘bad guys’ who are making people feel unsafe. There is broad agreement on that,” Mr. Isacson said. “But they also know there is only so much sovereignty they can cede before public opinion begins turning against them.”

Published – August 17, 2026 04:15 pm IST

Screenshots from a video posted by the U.S. Southcom on social media shows the boat before and after the strike by U.S. forces. Picture: Screenshot from video posted on X/@Southcom

The U.S.’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday (November 16, 2025) in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America as it conducts military strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the U.S. Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration insists is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the “Operation Southern Spear” mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.

The carrier’s arrival came as the military announced its latest deadly strike on a small boat it claims was engaged in ferrying illegal drugs. The military’s Southern Command posted a video on X on Sunday (November 16, 2025) showing the boat being blown up, an attack it said took place Saturday (November 15, 2025) in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed three men. A request for more information from the military was not immediately answered.

Since early September, such strikes by the U.S. in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have now killed at least 83 people in 21 attacks.

The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday (November 16, 2025) morning, the Navy said.

Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”

Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”

Adm. Holsey, who will retire next month after just a year on the job, said the strike group’s deployment is “a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is roughly 11 km from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The Prime Minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.

The exercises will include Marines from the 22nd Expeditionary Unit who have been stationed aboard the Navy ships that have been looming off Venezuela’s coast for months.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday (November 16, 2025) on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Sunday (November 16, 2025) that U.S. troops have been training in Panama, underscoring the administration’s increasing focus on Latin America.

“We’re reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever” Mr. Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth needed, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The administration has insisted that the buildup of American forces in the region is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.” Mr. Trump has indicated military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”

The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because their warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country. Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation for Mr. Maduro in a push to get him to step down.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Mr. Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Mr. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organisation” that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs.

Mr. Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him. On his Facebook page, Mr. Maduro wrote on Sunday (November 16, 2025) that the “Venezuelan people are ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression.”

Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilisation of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks. Mr. Maduro and other officials in Venezuela’s socialist party also have been attending rallies this weekend to back the creation of neighbourhood committees that will be in charge of increasing membership in Venezuela’s socialist party, and promoting the party’s policies.

Mr. Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organisations.

He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the U.N. human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Mr. Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorisation.

Experts disagree on whether or not American warplanes may be used to strike land targets inside Venezuela. Either way, the 100,000-ton warship is sending a message.

“This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region. “And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

Published – November 17, 2025 05:17 am IST