US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday at an anti-cartel conference in Panama. Hegseth said Bogota "has already requested that the USA (Pentagon) join Colombia in its fight against narco-terrorism." Colombia officially joined the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, following Peru in what's known as the ‘Shield of the Americas’ alliance—headed by Trump and including Argentina, Ecuador, and El Salvador. The US military has conducted airstrikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, killing at least 215 people. However, the Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence the vessels were involved in trafficking. Legal experts and rights groups warn the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings of civilians. Colombia's newly elected hard-right President Abelardo de la Espriella, who replaced leftist Gustavo Petro, has vowed to crush criminal groups amid the country's worst wave of violence in a decade. He plans to halt Petro's peace negotiations and confront "narcoterrorism without respite”, intensify airstrikes, and host US troops on Colombian soil. His ‘Plan Colombia II’ echoes a 2000s agreement with Washington, and he aims to forge military alliances with the US and Israel. The State Department said the Trump administration intends to announce $1 billion in assistance as part of a security package for the new government. (Bssnews)