President Donald Trump expands his Donroe doctrine. His new strategy counts on the complicity and alibi of allied countries in the American continent to justify interventions in other nations of that territory under the excuse of “increasing operational effectiveness against threats that undermine regional security and affect the United States.”
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The U.S. military launched this week the Western Hemisphere Joint Task Force with the 18 countries that make up its Coalition Against the Cartels of the Americas. This represents a transition from Operation Southern Lance with which it has bombed alleged drug trafficking speedboats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The new group means ending the bombings of drug speedboats in which at least 221 people have died
This collective will be made up of the U.S. and the countries that signed the Shield of the Americas alliance in March in Miami, which include: Argentina, Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago.
General Francis Donovan, commander of Southcom (U.S. Southern Command), said this new group will be the executive arm of Southern Command “to face threats throughout the hemisphere.”
“This headquarters brings together tailored military capabilities and trusted alliances to increase total systemic friction, operational tempo, exert sustained pressure on criminal organizations, and strengthen the security of the United States and our partners,” he insisted during the presentation.
The general referred to the fight being mainly against drug cartels operating in Latin America, with which Trump emphasized that the U.S. is in an “armed conflict.”
But the step taken now will allow closing that operation against the so-called drug speedboats. The Pentagon has spent approximately 820 million dollars during Operation Southern Lance, which began last September and has attacked around 67 vessels, causing the death of at least 221 people.
These bombings have been criticized by Democratic legislators and human rights organizations for not presenting public evidence that the attacked vessels were carrying drugs and for, essentially, executing people without any due legal process.
Donovan himself declared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that these attacks “are probably not the most effective tool” to deal with the flow of drugs into the country and that “they are not the answer.”
His statement is more than confirmed by the data. The arrival, distribution, and consumption of drugs have not decreased despite these bombings.
Donovan described the new organization as the “operational arm” of the Pentagon in the hemisphere and noted that it will intensify pressure on criminal organizations that threaten the U.S. and its regional allies. “We will locate, confront, and destroy these threats,” he promised.
This represents the most recent step in the White House’s effort to expand the role of the armed forces in the war against transnational criminal organizations but with the support of area partners. The group is conceived as a permanent headquarters, bringing under a single command the functions of intelligence, surveillance, operational planning, and multinational military coordination.
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