One year after it began striking boats suspected of ferrying drugs, the Pentagon is dramatically expanding the military’s role in tracking drug cartels across Latin America and the Caribbean, deploying high-tech drones to map smuggling networks and sending U.S. troops to assist in ground raids.
The top general in charge—a Marine four-star who spent years disrupting terror networks in the Middle East—said in a recent interview that the goal is to help countries in the region step up antidrug operations with U.S. assistance.
A video released by Southcom shows a ‘lethal kinetic strike’ on an alleged narcotrafficking boat in the Caribbean on May 29.
The effort also comes as the U.S. military examines how the networks are operating across continents. Officials from several of the U.S. military’s combatant commands met in Washington last week to discuss a global effort to counter drug cartels, said U.S. officials. The commanders of U.S. European Command, Africa Command, Southern Command, Northern Command and Special Operations Command participated, the officials said.
“The Department is focused on synchronizing our commands, interagency partners, and international partners share information, close operational seams, and apply sustained pressure across these networks,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
The ramped-up campaign comes as the Trump administration embraces a more muscular approach to Latin America, designating more than 20 groups as foreign terrorist organizations and cultivating a sprawling military alliance across the region to help crack down on cartel activity.
The expansion of U.S. military operations beyond boat strikes to land operations could intensify legal scrutiny. Trump officials have argued that the U.S. is engaged in an armed conflict with drug cartels, likening them to Islamist terror groups—an assertion that has been disputed by legal experts and lawmakers who say Congress hasn’t authorized such a war.
The State Department notified Congress earlier this month that it plans to redirect $52 million in foreign military financing from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Panama. The move could help the Latin American countries buy more U.S. military equipment and services.
In recent months, Colombia, Paraguay and Jamaica have all signed agreements that expand the ability of U.S. forces to operate in, train in and temporarily deploy to their countries. Ecuador’s Trump-allied president even tried to offer the U.S. military a base on its soil, but voters rejected the proposal.
Donovan said the growing list of countries working with the U.S. is a testament to the threat that drug gangs pose throughout the region. He said the goal is to see these countries take the lead in executing counterdrug operations.
“They are not only fed up, but under immense stress because of the impact these narcoterrorist organizations have had on their societies,” he said. “The majority of them are willing to employ their military and law enforcement forces to achieve those objectives.”
Write to Shelby Holliday at shelby.holliday@wsj.com, Vera Bergengruen at vera.bergengruen@wsj.com and Lara Seligman at lara.seligman@wsj.com