Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo has ruled out any US military operations targeting organized crime inside his country, saying Guatemala’s constitution explicitly prohibits joint military actions with foreign forces.
Speaking to AFP on Monday, Arévalo stated that while he welcomes international cooperation, “the constitution does not allow the operation or conduct of joint military operations with foreign armed forces.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS News a week ago that targeted strikes could be deployed in Guatemala and Ecuador to target criminal gangs and drug trafficking.
Guatemala is, however, part of an anti-drug-trafficking alliance promoted by President Donald Trump.
Arevalo noted in the interview that the cooperation agreed with Washington provides for “training, support at the level of tactical operations for the planning of raids, and intelligence sharing.”
Meanwhile, armed actions against criminal groups remain the responsibility of Guatemalan security forces, said the president, who is attending the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Panamanian capital.
Drug-trafficking mafias and gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18, designated as “terrorists” by the Trump administration, operate in Guatemala.
Earlier this month, the USA carried out a raid in Venezuela that killed criminal gang Tren de Aragua’s leader, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores — alias Nino Guerrero.
Guerrero was charged with drug trafficking, extortion, and other crimes in the US prior to the raid.
President Trump posted to social media a video of the raid targeting the high-profile criminal, who had a $5 million bounty on his head.
It showed an overhead view of a building surrounded by greenery before an explosion erupts, sending up a cloud of smoke. No people are clearly visible in the footage.
As part of the Republican president’s anti-drug offensive, the United States has also carried out airstrikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, in which more than 200 people have died. Washington has also acknowledged that it conducts missions together with Ecuador in areas along the border with Colombia.
Guatemala Denies
Earlier, Guatemala denied reports it had agreed to joint strikes with the United States on drug traffickers in the country, but admitted it requested Washington’s help in its fight against cartels.
The New York Times reported that Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo agreed to the strikes with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a call last week, quoting two people familiar with the talks.
The move would mark an escalation of US President Donald Trump’s fight against what his administration calls “narco-terrorists” operating out of Latin America, which has seen it launch a multinational cartel-fighting alliance and conduct joint strikes against cocaine smugglers in Ecuador.
But the Guatemalan government said that “there is no agreement authorizing foreign military operations by any country within national territory.”
Acting Pentagon spokesperson Joel Valdez told AFP earlier that the Defense Department “won’t speculate on future operations” or discuss operational security.
Guatemala’s Arevalo said in a statement that the country had requested Washington’s cooperation in its fight against drug gangs, but that it did not involve a US military presence, which would require congressional authorization.
The partnership “will involve access to equipment, training, and experts to (support) the planning of operations at both strategic and tactical levels,” Arevalo said.
According to a letter published by the Guatemalan government, Defense Minister Henry Saenz told Hegseth that Guatemala “wants to lead, with the assistance of the United States of America, active military operations to combat terrorist organizations designated by the United States” in the Central American country.
In the letter, dated May 23, Saenz refers to this action as “combined operations led by Guatemala.”
According to the government statement, Arevalo — along with his defense and foreign ministers — had a phone call with Hegseth “confirming the terms of the cooperation.”
Guatemala’s request for US cooperation in combatting drug trafficking falls within the framework of the anti-cartel alliance that Trump launched at a summit in March with Latin American leaders, Saenz said in the letter.
International cartels, with help from local drug traffickers, traffic drugs and launder money in Guatemala and other Central American countries, fueling regional violence.
Ninety percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States passes through Central America and Mexico in trucks, aircraft, boats and submarines, according to US officials.
By Agence France-Presse
