US Shifts $52 Million in Military Aid to Latin America

The State Department has notified Congress that it will redirect $52 million in foreign military financing away from four countries in Europe and the Middle East toward four nations in Central and South America.

Under the reprogramming, funds previously allocated to Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq will be shifted to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

The department said the money would be used to counter narcoterrorism in the Western Hemisphere and to help secure the Panama Canal. It added that the region has historically been neglected in U.S. military assistance, and that the funds would prevent adversaries from establishing strategic footholds in the hemisphere — an apparent reference to China, which has expanded its presence in Latin America.

Foreign military financing provides recipient governments with U.S. taxpayer dollars to buy military equipment from American defense contractors.

The decision follows a trip last week by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where he pledged additional support. The administration has made the Western Hemisphere a priority in its foreign policy, with a focus on combating drug trafficking and illegal immigration.

The shift does not eliminate foreign military financing for Tunisia, Iraq, North Macedonia or Slovakia, though the amounts remaining for those countries were not immediately clear. The State Department said the current distribution of financing does not align with the administration's prioritization of the Western Hemisphere.