MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Trump's 'Shield of the Americas' reshapes Central America's war on drug cartels

Governments aligned with the United States are adopting tough-on-crime rhetoric and requesting technical assistance

Donald Trump's return to the White House and the launch of the “Shield of the Americas” —a militarized anti-narcotics coalition that excludes Mexico and that Washington unveiled in Miami in March— have reshaped the security landscape in Central America. The pressure, intensified after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, has pushed trafficking routes into international waters and forced uneven responses across the isthmus, according to a report by EL PAÍS.

Governments aligned with the United States are adopting tough-on-crime rhetoric and requesting technical assistance. In Guatemala, President Bernardo Arévalo sent a letter seeking more support in training and intelligence, amid an offensive that between 2024 and 2026 seized more than 33 tonnes of cocaine and led to more than 2,000 arrests; on June 2, Congress passed an anti-money-laundering law. The head of US Southern Command, General Francis Donovan, met Guatemalan officials this week.

El Salvador shifted its effort to the open sea: on February 14, its navy intercepted the vessel FMS Eagle some 380 nautical miles offshore, with 6.6 tonnes of cocaine, the largest seizure in the country's history. President Nayib Bukele celebrated the operation on social media and reinforced his “Pacific wall” narrative, though the figures place the country seventh among the nine nations on the Pacific route.

Honduras, historically a drug corridor, has also become a coca producer: in 2025 alone, authorities destroyed more than a million plants. President Nasry Asfura sought to move closer to Washington, but organized crime displayed its strength with three massacres in late May that left 24 people dead, prompting the deployment of the army. In Costa Rica, going through its most violent years, new President Laura Fernández took office on May 8 with a turn toward a hard line: she announced a maximum-security prison, though she ruled out the entry of foreign troops in a country with no armed forces.

In Nicaragua, seizures abroad of shipments originating in the country have cast doubt on the “containment wall” claimed by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, whose opacity makes its effectiveness hard to gauge; Washington withdrew the DEA from the country in 2025. Panama, by contrast, leads regional seizures —more than 43 tonnes through May— with its ports as the main weak point. President José Raúl Mulino joined Trump's political front but set a limit on any US military deployment: “The Canal is Panama's and will remain Panama's.”