It's been just over a year since the United States military began striking narco-boats in the Caribbean Sea, and we're still at it, but as Donald Trump has said numerous times, we're taking this anti-drug trafficking fight to land, too.
Several of these governments in Central and South America are asking for help and welcoming it with open arms.
Ecuador is a perfect example. In March, SOUTHCOM confirmed that Ecuadorian and U.S. troops launched joint operations against the Los Choneros, Los Lobos, and Comandos de la Frontera terrorist groups that operate along the border the country shares with Colombia.
When Colombia's new president Abelardo de la Espriella took office in August, he promised to be a hardliner on the armed groups that plague his country as well, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth confirmed that de la Espriella had requested assistance in the form of joint military operations against these narco-terrorists. On August 12, Hegseth and Colombia's Minister of Defense, Jorge Mora, signed an agreement on military cooperation.
Colombia's Defense Ministry said, "This decision reaffirms Colombia’s commitment to a coordinated hemispheric response against terrorism, drugs trafficking, transnational organized crime and other threats that affect the security, the stability and the prosperity of our peoples."
Well, now another Latin American leader has hinted that she would not be opposed to welcoming to U.S. troops to her country if it would help with the cartel situation.
Earlier this month, Costa Rica's new president Laura Fernández told Reuters that having U.S. military operate in her country "would obviously be very good for national security." But she added that there are no immediate plans for that and that Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly would have to approve it.
Here's why that's unique.
Costa Rica itself does not have a military and hasn't since the late 1940s:
The roots of Costa Rica’s demilitarization lie in its political history. In 1948, a disputed presidential election sparked a civil war in Costa Rica. The conflict lasted only 44 days, but it had a profound impact on the country’s political landscape. Following the end of the civil war, Costa Rica’s head of the provisional government junta, Jose Figueres Ferrer, abolished the country’s military. Figueres believed that military spending drained Costa Rica’s resources and that a lack of military would allow it to put more energy into social programs.
Figueres' junta dissolved the army by decree on Dec. 1, 1948. Article 12 of the 1949 constitution made the ban on a permanent military the law.
The country’s armed forces were disbanded, and the funds previously allocated for military spending were redirected to education, healthcare, and other social programs. Over the years, Costa Rica has maintained a commitment to demilitarization. In the 1980s, it declared its neutrality in the region’s conflicts, including the civil wars in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala.
The country, which is like a second home to me, uses this as a selling point: It's so safe and peaceful here that we don't even need a military. The country also has a higher standard of living compared to much of Latin America because it's taken that money and invested in healthcare and education.
Day-to-day security is conducted by a public police force, Fuerza Pública, and it handles law enforcement, counter-narcotics operations, and border security, with a special unit for more intense situations, like counter-terror activity.
If Costa Rica does face some sort of foreign attack, it is part of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance, sometimes called the Rio Treaty, which essentially states that if any member country is attacked, the others will consider it an attack against their own homelands and step up to assist. The most notable member is the United States, which pretty much explains that.
Alternatively, it can go to the United Nations Security Council or the Organization of American States (OAS) for help.
But like much of the hemisphere, the cartels and narcos have fallen on Costa Rica, making it a transit hub for shipping cocaine from South America to the U.S. and Europe, and over the last decade, violent crime and homicide rates have soared. In 2023, those numbers peaked at 17.2 homicides per 100,000 residents or a total of 907 recorded murders.
It's exactly why Fernández won the presidency earlier this year. She promised to be tough on crime, and so far, she has been. The country is extraditing criminals to the U.S., taking out Cartel networks, and it's even building a mega-prison, modeled after El Salvador's CECOT, which should open its doors later this year.
Costa Rica is also already a strong U.S. partner in maritime patrol, and we've seen those actions result in the seizure of tons of drugs and the arrests of many narcos this year alone. It's also a member of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's Shield of the Americas and Hegseth's Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.
Several months ago, I wrote about one of Fernández's advisors who floated the idea of actually putting U.S. military bases in Costa Rica's Limón, Puntarenas, and Guanacaste provinces. She sort of distanced herself from that talk at the time, but this woman is very pro-U.S., willing to work with the Trump Administration as much as possible, and is heavily focused on the security of her country. Never say never.
The left, in our country and throughout the Americas, sees all of this as "Yankee imperialism," but Rubio himself has made it clear that this is not the case. We're partners. We're allies. We're friends. We're working together to keep our adversaries, whether they're organized crime groups or foreign governments, out of our hemisphere.
We may not see military bases in Costa Rica anytime soon, and there is no plan in place for boots on the ground — yet — but it will take the cooperation of all of our regional partners to counter the cartels. I love to see this willingness, even from a country that doesn't even have a military.
