On November 13, 2025, two major announcements on opposite sides of the U.S.-Mexico border set the stage for what could be a defining moment in the Western Hemisphere’s ongoing war on drugs. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed that her government had struck a new agreement with the United States, shifting the responsibility for intercepting suspected drug-running boats in international waters near Mexico from U.S. forces to Mexico’s Navy. The same day, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared the launch of Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR, a sweeping military campaign targeting what Washington calls “narco-terrorists” throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean. The moves come amid mounting regional tension, growing skepticism over U.S. military tactics, and a chorus of alarm from Latin American leaders who warn that the fight against drug trafficking is spiraling into something far more dangerous.
According to EL PAÍS, the new U.S.-Mexico agreement emerged after months of controversy over U.S. military strikes on vessels suspected of smuggling drugs, a campaign that began under the Trump administration in September 2025. The tipping point came two weeks ago, when a suspected drug boat was bombed 400 nautical miles off the coast of Acapulco. Mexican authorities launched a desperate search and rescue operation at the request of the U.S. Coast Guard, but only managed to find a sole survivor—whose fate remains uncertain. President Sheinbaum, addressing the press, said the goal of the new arrangement is “to avoid more attacks like the one that occurred two weeks ago.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Mexico’s Navy will now take the lead in intercepting vessels flagged as suspicious by U.S. agencies or the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). Admiral Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles, Mexico’s Secretary of the Navy, proposed the arrangement as a way to ensure compliance with international maritime treaties. “There are joint protocols for operations in international waters to prevent the use of bombings against vessels and to ensure compliance with all international treaties,” Sheinbaum explained. “What the Secretary of the Navy proposed was simply that those treaties be respected, and in principle, they agreed. That’s the first accord.”
Sheinbaum made it clear that Mexico would not tolerate further unilateral U.S. military action in its vicinity. “If information comes from U.S. agencies or from Southern Command itself, it will be the Mexican Navy that intercepts those vessels allegedly carrying drugs. The protocol remains in place, and we are in constant communication,” she stated. The president declined to divulge further details about the agreement, but it is understood that the arrangement was hammered out by a joint working group after the Acapulco incident.
The roots of this diplomatic pushback go deeper. On October 28, Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramón de la Fuente and Admiral Morales Ángeles delivered a stern message to U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson, expressing Mexico’s rejection of the U.S. attacks. “We do not agree with these attacks, with the way they are being carried out,” Sheinbaum emphasized at the time, instructing her Navy and Foreign Ministry to address the issue directly with Washington.
The U.S. campaign has not gone unnoticed elsewhere in Latin America. According to EL PAÍS, Washington’s offensive—primarily in Pacific and Caribbean waters near Colombia and Venezuela—has resulted in the sinking of 18 vessels and the deaths of 69 people since September, but so far the U.S. has not presented evidence that the targeted boats were actually carrying drugs. This lack of transparency has fueled suspicion and anger among regional leaders. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has taken the dramatic step of suspending all intelligence communications with U.S. agencies while the attacks continue. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has ordered his country’s armed forces to raise their alert levels, warning that “the greatest threat our continent has faced in the past 100 years” is now at its doorstep.
It is in this climate that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s announcement landed. “Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR,” Hegseth declared on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.”
Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR is being led by the U.S. Southern Command, or SOUTHCOM, which is responsible for security cooperation in 31 countries across Central and South America and the Caribbean. The operation’s centerpiece is the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, which arrived in Caribbean and Latin American waters last week. The Pentagon describes this show of force as a necessary escalation to “rein in transnational criminal gangs” and protect the United States from illicit drugs. According to U.S. officials, the military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific—despite their deadly toll—are justified by the urgent need to disrupt the flow of narcotics into the U.S.
But not everyone is buying the official line. The operation has heightened regional tensions, especially with Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, is directly in Washington’s crosshairs. The U.S. claims that some of the smugglers targeted in its strikes have links to Maduro’s government—a charge he flatly denies. Instead, Maduro accuses the U.S. of “fabricating a new war” as a pretext to oust him from power. “The US naval deployment in the region is the greatest threat our continent has faced in the past 100 years,” Maduro asserted in remarks reported by multiple outlets.
The diplomatic fallout has been swift. Colombia’s decision to suspend intelligence sharing with the U.S. marks a rare public rupture between two longstanding allies in the war on drugs. Venezuela’s military alert, meanwhile, signals that Caracas is bracing for the possibility of direct confrontation. For ordinary citizens across the region, the prospect of escalating military conflict at sea is deeply unsettling, especially given the lack of clarity about the evidence behind the U.S. strikes and the growing body count.
At the same time, the United States faces criticism at home and abroad for what some see as an overly aggressive, even reckless, approach. The fact that the U.S. has not produced concrete evidence that the destroyed vessels were actually involved in drug trafficking has only added fuel to the fire. Critics argue that such tactics risk undermining the very international partnerships and legal norms that are essential for effective counter-narcotics operations.
Yet the Biden administration—like its predecessor—insists that the stakes are too high to back down. With American overdose deaths linked to illicit drugs continuing to rise, Washington feels pressure to demonstrate decisive action. The deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford and the launch of Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR are meant to send a message to both criminal cartels and regional governments: the U.S. is prepared to use its military might to stem the tide of narcotics, no matter the diplomatic cost.
As the dust settles on this week’s announcements, the Western Hemisphere finds itself at a crossroads. Mexico’s new agreement with the U.S. may provide a temporary firewall against further escalation, but the broader regional backlash suggests that the war on drugs is entering a new and potentially more volatile phase. With trust eroding and tempers flaring, leaders on all sides face a daunting challenge: how to stop the flow of drugs without igniting a wider conflict that could engulf the entire region.
For now, the ships remain at sea, the protocols are under constant negotiation, and the eyes of the hemisphere are fixed on what happens next.
