by Beril Canakci for aa.com.tr
The three nations lag far behind the world’s most advanced military power, with major gaps in personnel, weapons, assets and budgets.
- Colombia’s military is structured for internal security, shaped by decades of conflict with guerrillas and drug cartels
- Mexico focuses on counter-narcotics and border security, with the National Guard playing a growing role
- Cuba relies on a massive paramilitary network of over 1 million personnel as the backbone of national defense
Three Latin American nations – Colombia, Mexico and Cuba – are bracing for potential confrontation with the US as President Donald Trump escalates threats across the hemisphere after Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela.
In the days since, Trump has maintained tense and shifting communications with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, one of the most outspoken critics of the operation.
Calling Petro a “sick man” who “likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States,” Trump told reporters that a military intervention in Colombia “sounds good.”
After a phone call with the US president, Petro said the threat was “frozen” for now, adding: “I could be mistaken.”
Trump also targeted Mexico, which he said “is ruled by cartels,” accusing it of failing to curb migrant flows and drug trafficking to the US. He said the US is “going to start hitting land” in operations against cartel groups.
Cuba faced the starkest rhetoric, with Trump saying the island was “ready to fall” after losing Venezuelan oil subsidies, initially suggesting that no direct US action would be required.
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Source: aa.com.tr
