US floats joint strikes with Colombia on armed groups

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has raised the possibility of joint military strikes with Colombia against armed groups, as the South American nation formally joins a US-led counter-narcotics coalition.

Speaking at a meeting of the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition in Panama City, Hegseth confirmed that discussions with his Colombian counterpart had touched on coordinated operations against groups such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident factions of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

"Designated terrorist organizations, with partnered governments, will be legitimate targets of the United States government," Hegseth said, adding that this would include Colombia.

The remarks come days after Colombian President Abelardo De La Espriella took office vowing a sweeping security crackdown. His administration has already been promised $1 billion in US security assistance, and Bogota has signed on to the Shield of the Americas program founded by former President Donald Trump.

Colombia's new Defense Minister, Jorge Eduardo Mora, said the country could play a critical role in confronting drug cartels along both its Pacific and Caribbean coasts. "I think the time has arrived for the narco-terrorist cartels to confront the power and the capabilities of the entire hemisphere, led by the United States," he said.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new partnership could surpass the scope of Plan Colombia, the anti-narcotics initiative launched in the early 2000s.

Hegseth also defended recent US military actions in the region, including strikes on suspected drug boats that have killed more than 200 people since September, and a January commando raid in Venezuela that removed President Nicolas Maduro. Critics have called these operations war crimes, but Hegseth dismissed such claims and urged coalition members to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.

He framed the campaign in sweeping terms, invoking a revamped "Donroe Doctrine" — a play on Trump's name — and said the US would "defend our hemisphere from external threats," including drug traffickers and foreign influence.

Panama's President Jose Raul Mulino, hosting the meeting, called drug trafficking the region's biggest threat and rejected concerns that the coalition could erode national sovereignty. He said transnational crime groups, not the coalition, posed the real danger to sovereignty.

The developments reflect a broader rightward shift across Latin America, where economic struggles and rising crime have boosted hard-right candidates in countries including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Panama and Peru.