Panama City, Panama - Colombia's new far-right government authorized joint military operations with the US to target drug traffickers, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday.
Bogota "has already requested that the [Pentagon] join Colombia in its fight against narcoterrorism, authorizing joint military operations to destroy terrorist and terror networks," Hegseth said at an anti-cartel conference in Panama.
"Aggressive and concrete steps like these exemplify the types of active participation, operationally focused, we want to see from our partners," he added.
Last September, the US military launched a campaign of airstrikes targeting alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed at least 215 people to date.
President Donald Trump's administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking.
Legal experts and rights groups say the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat.
Colombia's newly elected President Abelardo de la Espriella, meanwhile, has promised to crush criminal groups.
The hard-right leader has said he will halt his predecessor's peace negotiations with armed groups and confront "narcoterrorism without respite."
One way he planned to do so was team up with Washington and become part of Trump Shield of Americas initiative.
"Colombia is officially joining the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition," Hegseth said in a post on X accompanying photos of the memorandum signing with Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Mora.
De la Espriella, a first-time political leader who is closely allied with Trump, has said he will intensify airstrikes against guerrillas and drug traffickers and has offered to host US troops on Colombian soil.
The US State Department said last week it will push Congress to pass "$1 billion in assistance as part of a security package to support" the far-right leader's administration.