The U.S. military is sending several hundred Army soldiers to Latin America for training missions and joint exercises with regional forces as the Trump administration intensifies its effort to disrupt drug-trafficking organizations, Fox News confirmed.
The force comes from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. The first contingent from a battalion of about 600 soldiers is expected to head to Panama, The New York Times reported first.
A senior U.S. official told Fox News that the soldiers are being positioned forward under the authority of U.S. Southern Command, or SOUTHCOM, which will decide their final deployment locations.
The Times reported that the troops will initially train at a newly established jungle facility in Panama. Later, they are expected to conduct exercises with security forces in Colombia and Honduras.
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan testifies during a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 15, 2026. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)
The soldiers may also assist U.S. special operations forces advising partner militaries as they carry out raids targeting suspected drug traffickers, according to the outlet.
In a separate move, several hundred additional 10th Mountain Division soldiers are expected to help staff a new U.S. military command for the Western Hemisphere headquartered in Miami.
The deployments come as the Pentagon maintains a military campaign against suspected drug-trafficking groups operating across Latin America and the Caribbean.
U.S. SOUTHCOM said it has directed USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and USS Billings (LCS 15) to Venezuela to support State Department-led U.S. government relief operations in Venezuela. (@Southcom/X)
More than a year into the campaign, U.S. forces have carried out dozens of strikes that have killed more than 235 people.
SOUTHCOM Commander Gen. Francis Donovan has previously said the military was weighing potential ground operations against trafficking networks.
“Do I see land strikes as options? Yes. We want all options at the table,” Donovan told The Wall Street Journal.
“Those actions might be strikes, arrests, or the takedown of a safe house,” he said. “It could even be something as routine as increasing the use of cargo scanners at border checkpoints.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveils Operation Southern Spear to dismantle narco-terror networks across Latin America. (Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun – Pool/Getty Images)
Donovan said the broader objective was to impose “total systemic friction” on the cartels.
The Trump administration has been negotiating agreements with partner nations that could enable expanded U.S. military action against trafficking groups on land in several Latin American countries.
During a visit to Panama in August, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to permit joint U.S. military operations against criminal organizations inside their borders. Guatemala, however, denied that it had reached such an agreement.
