A screenshot from a SOUTHCOM video introducing Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere. U.S. Southern Command

August 13, 2026 09:26 PM ET

• Americas
• Security Cooperation

The recent establishment of a organized-crime task force by U.S. Southern Command is the latest expression of the Donroe Doctrine, the administration's interventionist—some say imperialist—approach to Latin America. But it may also signal a increased desire to work with regional partners—or just to operate inside their countries.

Last year's launch of Operation Southern Spear marked a return to a more hands-on U.S foreign policy in Latin America. Beginning with U.S Navy strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels, it has expanded to encompass the U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year and the subsequent re-intensification of U.S economic and military pressure on Cuba.

But SOUTHCOM has also worked to integrate U.S. forces into local security operations and to bring partner states’ security forces under its operational umbrella. In March, the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition was created as a U.S-led body to coordinate regional actions against transnational organized crime. That same month, SOUTHCOM dispatched forces to help Ecuadorian security forces to take action against an alleged criminal hub inside Ecuador. Now the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, stood up on Aug. 4, is meant to facilitate and coordinate action against organized criminal threats by the U.S. military and regional partner states.

The JTF-WHEM and the A3C suggest SOUTHCOM senses a need for multilateral cooperation. Though several Latin American governments are adopting tougher policies towards organized crime and were broadly sympathetic to Maduro's removal, Southern Spear’s controversial boat strikes and the Maduro operation provoked unease in a region with a long history of U.S. interventionism.