Hundreds Of Troops Head To Latin America To Deal With Drug Traffickers

The Pentagon is expanding its counter-drug campaign in Latin America by deploying Army troops whose assignments could include training alongside regional forces and supporting military advisers, The New York Times reported.

U.S. military officials told the newspaper that soldiers assigned to the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, had begun deploying in Panama for jungle training. The initial arrivals belong to a battalion of about 600 soldiers, with training also planned in Colombia and Honduras.  

The U.S. Embassy in Panama challenged reports that 600 troops were deploying to the country. According to regional reporting, the embassy said 120 soldiers from the division were participating in a two-week course and would return to their home units afterward.

The accounts leave unresolved how the current training group relates to the broader deployment described by the Times.

Beyond exercises, the newspaper reported that some soldiers could guard American helicopters or assist U.S. Special Operations personnel if they encounter trouble while advising local militaries. Those partner forces conduct raids against suspected drug traffickers. The report does not establish that the newly deployed soldiers will carry out raids themselves.

The division is also expected to send several hundred soldiers to Miami to staff a command overseeing Western Hemisphere operations, according to the Times.

The expanded military presence follows Washington’s push for regional governments to intensify operations against cartels and cooperate more closely with American forces.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has championed that effort through the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition. At an August gathering in Panama, he described its motto: “We do bad things to bad people.”

The Pentagon has already conducted dozens of strikes over the past year against vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that it says were transporting drugs.

Gen. Francis L. Donovan, who leads U.S. Southern Command, told The Wall Street Journal last month that land strikes were among the options available as the military seeks to disrupt cartel operations.

“Do I see land strikes as options? Yes. We want all options at the table,” Donovan said.

He also described measures that would involve law enforcement and border security rather than military strikes.

“Those actions might be strikes, arrests, or the takedown of a safe house,” he added. “It could even be something as routine as increasing the use of cargo scanners at border checkpoints.”

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