War on Drugs

Colombia's New President Wants More U.S. Military Help Fighting Cartels

Abelardo de la Espriella campaigned on shooting down drug planes and boats in Colombia. Twenty-five years of U.S.-funded counternarcotics suggests it won't matter

Tosin Akintola | 8.14.2026 4:23 PM

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(Illustration: Mike Worton/Alfiofer/Pablo Hidalgo/Dreamstime)

The Trump administration is expanding the footprint of its war on drugs in Latin America.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Colombia would join the "Shield of the Americas" initiative. When the multinational security coalition of the U.S. and Latin American countries formed in March, President Donald Trump said the group was united by a commitment to use "lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all." 

Hegseth said members of the Shield, a.k.a. the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, will take "concrete steps—sometimes risky steps, courageous steps—in partnership" toward its goal of "dismantling the drug cartels that threaten safety, security and sovereignty in the Western Hemisphere."

To date, at least 19 countries in the region have signed on to the coalition, including the........

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