Hegseth Says Colombia Authorized Joint Military Operations as It Joins U.S.-Led Anti-Cartel Coalition
The Facts
- Hegseth said Colombia authorized joint military operations with the United States against drug trafficking.
- Hegseth announced Colombia will join the Coalition of the Americas Against the Cartels as its 19th member.
- The authorization extends U.S. anti-cartel military operations onto Colombian territory.
- Hegseth made the announcement at a coalition forum in Panama City on Wednesday.
- Hegseth said the coalition would "do bad things to bad people."
- Hegseth said forces would be "very capable" of using force against cartels designated as terrorist organizations.
- The announcement followed the inauguration of Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriella five days earlier.
- Hegseth met Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino during his second visit to Panama.
- The forum took place alongside the U.S.-led regional military exercise PANAMAX 2026 in Panama.
Context
What is the A3C coalition?
The Coalition of the Americas Against the Cartels (A3C) is described as the main operational tool of "Escudo de las Américas" (Americas Shield), a framework established and led by Washington earlier in 2026 to coordinate border and security cooperation infobae,europa press. Before Colombia's addition, 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries had joined the framework infobae. The Panama City meeting brought together security force chiefs from 19 countries infobae, with Hegseth addressing civilian defense leaders and senior generals from 18 other countries NYT.
What else did Hegseth ask coalition members to do?
According to La Nación, Hegseth used the forum to repeat a U.S. request that coalition members withdraw from the International Criminal Court, saying he "strongly recommends" that all A3C members leave the ICC and reject what he called attempts to strip their governments and courts of sovereignty La Nación, Grupo Na…. That element of his remarks appears in one source in this pool.
What remains unclear?
The reports announcing the agreement do not specify what form the joint operations in Colombia will take, where or when they would occur, or their legal basis EL MUNDO,Le Monde. The announcement was made by Hegseth rather than by Colombian officials, though Reuters reported he signed accession documents with Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Eduardo Mora at a ceremony in Panama City Yahoo!. El Confidencial reported an accompanying U.S. assistance package of $1 billion, a detail not corroborated elsewhere in this pool El Confidencial.
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both treat "bad things to bad people" as inadequate cover for lethal operations abroad, and both locate the real substance in the authorization itself, not the rhetoric.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about who defines a legitimate target and answers when that judgment kills wrongly, or about a sovereign partner consenting so America stops carrying the hemisphere alone.
How left and right read it
Lethal force in another country's territory demands stated legal limits and someone answerable for who dies, yet the framing offered in Panama City was a swaggering slogan about doing bad things to bad people. That matters because the authorization opens Colombian ground to U.S. operations days after a new president took office, with force promised against groups designated as terrorist organizations. The bravado is the tell. Who defines a legitimate target, and who answers when that judgment is wrong?
“With his typical bravado, Mr. Hegseth said the cartel-busting coalition's motto would be, "We do bad things to bad people."” — The New York Times
Security in our own hemisphere is America's business, yet it should never be America's burden alone. That is why Colombia's authorization of joint military operations on its own territory matters more than the tough talk about doing bad things to bad people: a sovereign government consented to the effort and joined the coalition as its nineteenth member, so the load is genuinely shared. Partner consent, not unilateral reach, is the standard worth holding.
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