US military expands Latin America campaign from sea to land

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 Source: AP News.

New phase

Defense 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 Source: AP News. Hegseth said the land operations would have the "same effect" as the boat strikes, working with partners to "bring the fight" to designated terrorist organizations Source: AP News.

Reactions

Critics warn that the widening U.S. military campaign risks civilian casualties and a backlash that could outlast the Republican administration. "What's going on is an attempt to legitimize the increased use of the U.S. military in the region," said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue. "This is not cooperation, it's obviously a very asymmetrical relationship" Source: AP News. William LeoGrande of American University called sustained U.S. combat operations alongside local forces "new and different," testing sensitivities over sovereignty Source: AP News.

Context

The administration has designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as "foreign terrorist organizations," sent U.S. forces into Venezuela, and involved CIA agents in drug lab busts in Mexico. It has killed more than 200 people in over 60 boat strikes, offering little evidence that those targeted were "narco-terrorists" and drawing questions about the strikes' legality Source: AP News. The expansion marks a new phase in the administration's campaign to assert "American dominance over the Western Hemisphere" Source: AP News.