US begins deploying parts of 600-troop battalion to Panama — Anadolu Agency
The United States has begun deploying the first units of a battalion of 600 servicemembers from the 10th Mountain Division to Panama. As Anadolu Agency reports, citing The New York Times, the military has begun moving to a new training center in Panama’s jungle.
Training in the region
According to unnamed US military officials, the unit is expected to train with the militaries of Colombia and Honduras. It may also support US special operations forces that advise partner troops during raids against suspected drug trafficking participants.
This month, the military is set to take part in the Southern Vanguard exercises in Colombia. Officials said these rotations are temporary, but could later develop into a more permanent US presence in the region.
Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America said he could not recall another deployment of US forces in the region on such a scale, excluding an invasion or a response to natural disasters.
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Expansion of operations
Other servicemembers from the 10th Mountain Division are also planned to be sent to a new Western Hemisphere operations command in Miami. Before that, the United States transferred several MQ-9 Reaper drones from Africa to Colombia and Ecuador, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created an office to oversee operations against cartels.
Washington urged leaders of countries in the region to step up operations against groups involved in drug trafficking and allow joint action. Formally, only a few states, including Colombia and Honduras, agreed to this. US Southern Command chief General Francis Donovan said operations would expand from strikes on boats to ground targets.
The US military carried out 71 strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The United States claims that at least 239 people whom it described as involved in drug trafficking were killed in these strikes, without providing evidence. Legal experts consider the strikes illegal, while human rights organizations warn that ground strikes could increase the risk of civilian casualties.
