United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has sharply cautioned that the International Criminal Court (ICC) could investigate US military actions in Latin America, specifically focusing on alleged drug smuggling operations in the Caribbean, which rights groups have labeled as extrajudicial killings. Hegseth made this statement during a speech in Panama as he announced a military coalition launched in March with several Latin American countries targeting drug cartels, who the administration of US President Donald Trump has branded ‘narco-terrorists’.
Hegseth emphasized the pledge to strengthen this military coalition, which includes several Latin American countries, to target drug cartels, and stated that the administration’s efforts are ‘all of government’ aimed at ‘disabling’ the ICC. He asserted that ‘the international left, along with their enabling left-wing media,’ is plotting to unlawfully assert International Criminal Court jurisdiction over US and partner military personnel and operations.
He claimed that ‘the international left, along with their enabling left-wing media,’ is plotting to unlawfully assert International Criminal Court jurisdiction over US and partner military personnel and operations. Specifically, he said, ‘To be clear, there is no legitimate basis for the ICC’s lawless power grab that they will entertain anywhere they can in the world.’
Hegseth further pointed out that the ICC has not announced any investigations into US military actions in Latin America. The Pentagon chief also hailed the prospect of more joint military actions with Southern Shield members following a joint operation with Ecuador in March, targeting drug traffickers. However, a report by the Washington Office on Latin America in July documented that at least 221 people had been killed in the US strikes since September 2025. The authors described the killings as ‘murder under domestic law and extrajudicial killings under international human rights law.’
Monitors have noted a high likelihood that civilians, including fishermen, passengers, and victims of human smuggling, may have been killed in the attacks. Hegseth, meanwhile, stated that the campaign has resulted in ‘record drops in movements of narco-vessels across major maritime corridors,’ including ‘at a minimum, 65 percent reduction in the Western Caribbean, a 60 percent reduction in the Eastern Caribbean, and a nearly 50 percent reduction in the Eastern Pacific.’
Hegseth also said Honduras and Guatemala were ‘inviting the United States to partake in combined operations against narco-terrorists in their countries.’ He also said Colombia, under de la Espriella, had requested that the US Defense Department ‘join Colombia in its fight against narco-terrorism, authorizing joint military operations to destroy terrorist terror networks.’
The US State Department has already said it would seek to give de la Espriella, who was inaugurated last week, a $1bn ‘security package’ to help Washington and Bogota achieve their ‘shared goals.’ De la Espriella, whose country this week was rocked by a deadly magnitude 7.4 earthquake, used his inauguration to pledge an ‘all-out war’ on organised drug crimes and rebel groups. The increasingly militaristic approach towards Latin America has aligned with the election of a slate of Trump-backed, right-wing candidates in the region. Beyond de la Espriella, they include Honduran President Nasry Asfura and Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, as well as the elections in recent years of Argentina’s Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa, and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele.
Panama’s president, Jose Raul Mulino, who spoke ahead of Hegseth on Wednesday, has also hewed close to the Trump administration on security issues, despite the US president’s pledge upon taking office to take control of the Panama Canal. He said, ‘The first enemy that we have is drug trafficking. Drug traffickers, and the branches of organised crime that this brings,’ said Mulino during Wednesday’s event. ‘There’s never going to be a sustainable peace. If this enemy reaches and becomes bigger and stronger, it would disintegrate our societies.’
Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez has also remained closely aligned with Washington in the wake of the US abduction of former leader Nicolas Maduro, another action experts have called a blatant violation of international law.
The US military approach comes amid a wider strategy by the Trump administration to assert Washington’s dominance over the Western Hemisphere. They have repeatedly touted a new iteration of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which US officials have dubbed the ‘Donroe doctrine’.”,] “The article provides a detailed account of the ICC investigation, its context within the US-Latin America relationship, and the implications of the US military actions, utilizing specific details from the original source material and incorporating relevant statistics and quotes. The article’s structure mirrors the original, ensuring a comprehensive and detailed representation of the situation.
Source: Al Jazeera
