Colombia authorized US anti-drug ops, Hegseth says

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that Colombia had authorized joint military operations with the United States to target drug traffickers, expanding Washington's campaign against cartels in Latin America.

Speaking at an anti-cartel conference in Panama, Hegseth said Bogota had requested that the Pentagon join Colombia in its fight against what he called narco-terrorism. He said Colombia had authorized joint operations to destroy “terrorist and terror networks.”

No details were given on the timing, scope or location of any joint operations.

The announcement comes after the US military launched a campaign last September of airstrikes targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. The strikes have killed at least 215 people to date.

US President Donald Trump's administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking were involved in drug trafficking. Legal experts and rights groups say the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

Colombia's newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella has promised to crush criminal groups profiting from drug trafficking during the country's worst wave of violence of the past decade. He has said he will halt his predecessor Gustavo Petro's unsuccessful peace negotiations with armed groups and confront what he calls narcoterrorism.

De la Espriella has said he will intensify airstrikes against guerrillas and drug traffickers and has offered to host US troops on Colombian soil. The US State Department said last week that the Trump administration intends to work with Congress to announce $1 billion in assistance as part of a security package to support the new Colombian administration.