Overview

• A directive signed last week authorizes the Pentagon to plan and potentially execute military force against Latin American drug cartels designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
• U.S. naval and air assets—including spy planes, a warship and an attack submarine—have been sent to the southern Caribbean alongside more than 4,000 Marines and sailors under U.S. Southern Command.
• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has firmly rejected U.S. military operations on Mexican territory while continuing to extradite cartel suspects to U.S. authorities.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Senator Marco Rubio argue the shift provides legal authorities to treat cartels as national security threats rather than purely criminal actors.
• Over 30 humanitarian and advocacy groups and members of Congress are calling for hearings and funding restrictions to scrutinize or block the administration’s military approach over legal and humanitarian risks.