Μake us preferred on Google 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.
The deployments are part of a broader effort by the administration to disrupt illicit trafficking networks worldwide using sophisticated military technology and other counterterrorism tools, other U.S. officials said.
“Do I see land strikes as options? Yes. We want all options at the table,” said Gen. Francis Donovan , head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees troops in the region.
“Those actions might be strikes, arrests, or the takedown of a safe house. It could even be something as routine as increasing the use of cargo scanners at border checkpoints,” Donovan said, adding that the goal is to put “total systemic friction” on the cartels.
The U.S. military’s cooperation with Latin American partners has expanded rapidly in recent months. Last week, some 50 U.S. troops and law enforcement personnel joined Ecuadorean police in predawn raids against an alleged cocaine-trafficking network linked to a Mexican cartel, according to Ecuadorean and U.S. officials.
The operation marked the first time U.S. troops have directly participated in police raids in the country, according to Ecuadorean officials, and it was supported by high-tech U.S. military assets, including drones and jamming equipment.
It is a model that Trump officials plan to expand across the region . So far this year, the U.S. military has helped Ecuador bomb a suspected drug trafficking camp, worked with Venezuela to carry out a strike that killed the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, and provided intelligence support for operations in Colombia. On Monday, Colombian forces captured an alleged drug gang leader after tracking him with the help of U.S. law enforcement and American-supplied drones equipped with infrared sensors, according to local authorities.
The growing operational role marks a significant shift for Southern Command, which has traditionally maintained a light U.S. military footprint in the region and focused largely on intelligence sharing, interdictions, training and disaster relief.
Donovan said a range of high-tech systems is needed because Latin America—with its thick jungle canopy, severe weather and mountainous terrain—poses far greater challenges in hunting down targets than the dry and open landscape in the Middle East.
“It is incredibly challenging,” he told the Journal. “When you add the river networks, their daily flows, and tidal changes of up to 20 feet, it presents a unique geographic and topographic problem set that we simply haven’t had to face before.”
Some of the drones being used, including unmanned boats that can launch quadcopters, will operate along riverways and deep in the jungle, where drug smugglers can shield their activities under several layers of canopy.
“This allows us to see under the canopy and right at the waterline. That is where we find drug labs and where they build these large semi-submersible platforms deep in the jungle,” Donovan said.
To support expanding operations, the Pentagon is considering moving MQ-9 Reaper drones to Central and South America from Africa, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. Donovan didn’t comment on the proposed shift in assets.
MQ-9s, which can pick up electronic communications, detect heat signatures and conduct precision strikes, have been crucial in America’s counterterrorism efforts. In the past year, the drones have also been used in several attacks on drug boats. CNN reported earlier the deployment of Reaper drones to the region.
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
