Hegseth Urges Latin American Allies to Quit ICC as Colombia Joins Anti-Cartel Coalition Amid Deadly Maritime Strike Controversy

What Hegseth Argued About the ICC

In his August 12–13 address in Panama City, Hegseth called the ICC a "fake and illegitimate" court and urged every ACCC member to withdraw from the Rome Statute . He argued that the tribunal was attempting to "rob your governments and your courts of your sovereignty" and was plotting to assert jurisdiction over counter-cartel operations in Latin America . Specifically, Hegseth warned that the ICC could investigate U.S. strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean — operations that human rights groups have labeled extrajudicial killings .

New ACCC Membership Announced: Colombia Joins as 19th Member

Hegseth announced that Colombia, under newly inaugurated conservative President Abelardo de la Espriella (nicknamed "El Tigre" by President Trump), had officially joined the ACCC as its 19th member . Colombia's government also authorized joint U.S.-Colombia military operations on Colombian soil to combat "narco-terrorism" and signed an Access, Basing and Overflight agreement with the United States . Some reports note that Hegseth also unveiled expanded joint military partnerships with Jamaica, Honduras, and Guatemala alongside the Colombia announcement .

Human Rights Concerns Over the Coalition's Maritime Strikes

Since September 2, 2025, the U.S. military has conducted airstrikes on small boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific under what the Trump administration calls "Operation Southern Spear." The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) documented that 221 people have been killed in 63 separate strikes, with videos of the explosions posted to social media by top U.S. officials . Human rights and legal experts have raised serious concerns:

• Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo told the BBC that the strikes may amount to crimes against humanity under international law .
• Legal scholars at the University of Pennsylvania have said the strikes violate the UN Charter prohibition on the use of force and fundamental humanitarian law, and exceed domestic constitutional limits on executive power .
• Rights groups including WOLA describe the campaign as a pattern of extrajudicial executions and have called for accountability .
• The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said the strikes "violate international human rights law" and must stop immediately .
• The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights held its first hearing on the legality of the strikes in March 2026, with the ACLU and other groups presenting evidence of violations of domestic and international law .

Broader Context: The Trump Administration's Campaign Against the ICC and the 'Donroe Doctrine'

Hegseth's Panama speech is part of a sustained Trump administration offensive against the ICC. The U.S. has never been an ICC member, and in 2020 the Trump administration imposed sanctions on ICC officials investigating U.S. actions in Afghanistan. Hegseth's call for Latin American allies to withdraw deepens that isolation campaign — if ACCC members exit the Rome Statute, it shrinks the court's jurisdictional reach and shields both U.S. and partner forces from potential prosecution .

Simultaneously, the administration has advanced what the Department of War formally calls the "Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine" (sometimes referred to colloquially as the "Donroe Doctrine") . The War Department's August 13 press release explicitly uses that title, stating that Hegseth reaffirmed the Trump Corollary and called on regional partners to "take the fight to the cartels" . This doctrine asserts a U.S. right to unilateral military action in the Western Hemisphere against transnational criminal threats, effectively expanding the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine into a proactive, interventionist framework. The ACCC, the PANAMAX 2026 exercise defending the Panama Canal, joint operations with Colombia, and the parallel effort to dismantle ICC jurisdiction in the region all serve as operational pillars of this doctrine .