More than 300 US military personnel to arrive in Colombia for anti-drug training

More than 300 U.S. troops are due to arrive in Colombia on Tuesday, October 27, to conduct military training exercises against drug trafficking, the U.S. Southern Command and Colombia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed Monday in two press releases. The joint exercise, called Southern Vanguard, will take place at the country’s largest military base in Tolemaida, in the municipality of Nilo, Cundinamarca, a few hours from Bogotá. It will run through November 11, 2026.

The arrival of the troops is framed within President Donald Trump’s strategy to increase U.S. military presence in Latin American countries, dubbed the ‘Donroe doctrine’ — a play on former president James Monroe’s thesis of hemispheric hegemony and Trump’s interventionist approach.

The troop deployment in Colombia comes one month after a meeting between General Francis L. Donovan, head of U.S. Southern Command, and Colombian Defense Minister Jorge Mora, and only a week after the first contingent of a 600-soldier unit from the 10th Mountain Division arrived for training in the Panamanian jungle. Joint training between U.S. forces and the Honduran army is also expected in the coming days.

President Abelardo de la Espriella has not commented, but the Ministry of Defense announced the troop arrival and said the training “will strengthen interoperability between the National Army of Colombia and the United States Army.” According to its press release, the aim is to carry out combined exercises focused on combating “drug trafficking, the illicit exploitation of mineral deposits, challenges with unmanned aerial systems and medical evacuations.” In November 2022 a similar exercise was held with 300 U.S. and Colombian soldiers — fewer than half of those arriving this Tuesday. A similar exercise took place in Brazil in 2024 and in Chile in 2025, but Colombia did not participate.

Southern Command has said this exercise is “fully nested under the Joint Staff’s global military exercise strategy, which enables the Joint Force to train alongside Allies and partners.” The statement stresses that “working side-by-side, soldiers from both nations will share tactical expertise, build lasting institutional trust, and strengthen combined readiness to respond to regional security challenges.”

According to information shared by the U.S. embassy in Colombia, the training is designed to counter regional threats, strengthen partner capacity and increase readiness. The document says the exercises will focus mainly on “maritime interdiction, ground security operations, cyber defense, and interagency cooperation.”

The activities will begin on October 30 with an aeromedical evacuation scenario from Colombia’s Tolemaida military base to its Cavalry School in Bogotá. According to the Ministry of Defense, the objective will be “to verify the medical care and first-aid procedures used by medical personnel from both armies to assist a person who would have been injured in a mined area.” Aircraft and specialized medical equipment will be used for the drill. During the training, the National Army’s Counter‑Narcotics Battalion No. 1 will exchange “tactics, techniques and military procedures” with light infantry soldiers from the U.S. Army’s Mountain Battalion.

A renewed debate

The presence of U.S. troops in Colombia revives a legal and political debate over whether Congress must authorize such operations in advance. The opposition Pacto Histórico, the party of former president Gustavo Petro, insists the constitutional requirement on the “transit of foreign troops” applies, while the government says these are training missions that do not require that permission and have been carried out routinely for decades. A Council of State decision stemming from a similar 2020 exercise found that the temporary presence of foreign military personnel to advise, train or instruct, without participating in operations, without exercising command and without carrying weapons, does not constitute a transit of troops — meaning legislative authorization would not be required.

However, criticism goes further and includes concerns about the legal immunity those soldiers might have under old bilateral agreements. Opposition senator Alejandra Omaña of the Pacto Histórico on Monday recalled a 2007 scandal in which several U.S. servicemembers were accused of raping a 12-year-old girl near Tolemaida. The government has not responded to those criticisms.

The mission has in any case been welcomed by the right. Salvación Nacional senator Germán Rodríguez, a former military officer and ally of De la Espriella, celebrated the arrival of U.S. troops: “Excellent news for Colombia’s security. Cooperation between our Army and the United States Armed Forces strengthens the capabilities to combat terrorism and confront the criminal organizations that threaten the country. With the arrival of 300 U.S. soldiers to Tolemaida, this strategic cooperation is reinforced.”

So far, the government has not submitted any request to the legislature for activities that require its permission, which in principle does not include training. The Council of State itself reported that, during the government’s first month, it did not receive any request for an opinion on the entry or participation of foreign troops.

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