Army Moves 600-Soldier Battalion Toward Panama as Anti-Cartel Campaign Widens, Officials Say

The U.S. Army is sending several hundred soldiers to Latin America, adding ground forces to a campaign against drug-trafficking groups that has so far been fought mostly from the air and sea.

The New York Times reported Wednesday, Oct. 14, citing U.S. military officials speaking anonymously, that the first elements of a roughly 600-soldier battalion from the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York, have begun moving into a new jungle training facility in Panama. A senior U.S. official separately confirmed to Fox News that the troops are being forward-staged under U.S. Southern Command, which will decide where they end up.

Where the troops are headed

After Panama, the battalion is expected to train with forces in Colombia and Honduras. The soldiers are due to take part later this month in a Colombian exercise called Southern Vanguard.

Some could also support U.S. special operations personnel who advise local militaries on raids against suspected traffickers. Their duties may include providing security for American helicopters.

Separately, several hundred more 10th Mountain soldiers are expected to help staff a new Western Hemisphere operations command in Miami.

The rotations are temporary for now. The officials cited by the Times said they could become a more permanent presence.

The Pentagon declined to discuss details of the deployment. It said it wants to deepen cooperation with regional allies against criminal networks.

A campaign that keeps growing

The troop movement follows the transfer of several MQ-9 Reaper drones from Africa to Colombia and Ecuador. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also created a Pentagon office to oversee counter-cartel operations.

The military has carried out 71 strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 239 people. The U.S. government has called them drug traffickers but has not presented evidence.

Gen. Francis Donovan, who commands Southern Command, has said operations will expand beyond boats. "Do I see land strikes as options? Yes. We want all options at the table," he told The Wall Street Journal. He said the actions "might be strikes, arrests, or the takedown of a safe house," and described the goal as creating "total systemic friction" for the cartels.

Gen. Joe Ryan, who heads Army Western Hemisphere Command, said Monday at the Association of the United States Army meeting in Washington that Army exercises in the region will be refocused on counter-cartel work. He said the review was directed by Donovan to align with current federal priorities. Ryan called the cartels "designated terrorist organizations" and "global economic syndicates" that will survive "unless we disrupt the economic side of it."

The administration has also designated 21 Latin American groups as foreign terrorist organizations, according to Fox News.

Partners and pushback

Washington leads a coalition of 19 regional partners. Only a handful, including Colombia and Honduras, have formally agreed to joint operations on their territory.

In August, Hegseth said in Panama that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow joint operations against criminal groups within their borders. Guatemala denied reaching any such agreement.

Critics are focused on the size of the move and the legal footing of the campaign. Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America said he could not recall a U.S. deployment in the region approaching this size outside of invasions or disaster response.

Legal experts have called the boat strikes unlawful. Human rights groups warn that land strikes raise the risk of civilian casualties.

The Times reported that some senior U.S. officials have voiced concern that the administration has not laid out a clear objective. One official warned that an attack on U.S. troops could prompt escalation and pull already strained forces deeper into another conflict.

The other mission

Ryan said the Army is also building up its traditional crisis-response role in the region. It recently won approval to move more aviation assets and personnel south over the next couple of fiscal years to help with natural disasters.

That is a more conventional use of the Army in the hemisphere, and it sits alongside the counter-cartel shift.

What comes next

The first test of the deployment is Southern Vanguard in Colombia later this month. The Pentagon has not said how long the rotations will last, what the troops' rules of engagement are, or whether the Miami command will direct land operations. Those answers will determine whether this is a training mission or the start of something larger.