Symbolic imageColombia opens its territory to US anti-cartel operations
Colombia has authorised joint US military operations against cartels on its soil and joined the US-funded Shield of the Americas coalition, Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Hegseth and Colombian Defence Minister Jorge Mora signed the accession at a coalition meeting in Panama City, days after Abelardo de la Espriella took office in Bogotá on that campaign promise. Asked whether joint strikes on US-designated groups such as FARC and ELN had been discussed, Hegseth said yes, and he told the coalition that Washington wants on land the same effect as its strikes on suspected trafficking boats. Opposition lawmakers call it a relinquishment of sovereignty, citing Article 173 of the constitution, which reserves to the Senate the right to permit foreign troops on Colombian soil.
Drills on the Rio Bravo
US immigration and border police and Mexican soldiers and national guards held joint exercises near El Paso and Ciudad Juárez on Thursday, 13 August, where the Juárez cartel operates, an AFP reporter observed. Washington designated that cartel a foreign terrorist organisation in July.
Treasury reports smuggling money down
A FinCEN report says US banks flagged nearly $5 billion linked to possible human smuggling from 2023 to 2025, with such transactions down 62 percent in 2025 against 2024.
Other opinions
El País foregrounds the Colombian opposition's unconstitutionality claim, which Breitbart omits while quoting Bogotá's defence ministry that cooperation does not replace its own sovereign responsibility.