Guatemala Says U.S. Won’t Be Fighting Gangs on Its Soil

Guatemala’s president has flatly rejected the idea of American troops conducting military operations against criminal gangs inside his country.

President Bernardo Arévalo, speaking to AFP from Panama, where he was attending an OAS summit, stated that while he welcomes international cooperation, “the constitution does not allow the operation or conduct of joint military operations with foreign armed forces”.

The statement comes after US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS News that targeted strikes against criminal gangs and drug trafficking networks could be deployed in Guatemala and Ecuador.

Arévalo did not dispute that the two countries have a cooperation agreement, but he was clear about its limits. He said Washington’s role is limited to training, tactical planning support for raids, and intelligence sharing. Any armed action against criminal groups, he said, remains the job of Guatemalan security forces alone.

The US has been expanding its military footprint in the region under Trump’s anti-drug offensive. Earlier this month, American forces carried out a raid in Venezuela that killed the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores. Flores had a five million dollar bounty on his head. Trump posted a video of the strike on social media.

The US has also carried out airstrikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, operations in which more than 200 people have died.