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Original article:  “Operación Exterminio Total”: la escalada militar de Trump que apunta a Ecuador, Colombia y Cuba

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has initiated a military escalation in Latin America dubbed the «Total Extermination Operation.» Initially labeled as attacks against alleged drug cartels in the region, this campaign targets Ecuador, Colombia, and Cuba, involving covert actions, ground bombardments, attacks on civilian vessels, and territorial annexation threats.

Pentagon and Department of War officials have confirmed that these operations are merely «the beginning» of a broader strategy outlined by the Republican mogul to exert greater political influence across the continent.

According to reports by The Intercept, during a recent hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, acting Under Secretary of Defense for National Security Affairs in the Americas, Joseph Humire, revealed the extent of a new military phase in the region.

«The attacks against Latin American drug cartels are only the beginning,» Humire stated, anticipating a sustained escalation. His comments validated what had previously circulated as rumors in military and diplomatic circles: the Trump administration is executing a strategy of direct confrontation in the western hemisphere, while concurrently engaging in warfare against Iran alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has led to over 1,500 civilian deaths, including at least 228 children, and the destruction of around 115,000 civilian structures in the Islamic nation since February 28.

«The joint operation, named ‘Total Extermination Operation,’ marks the start of a military offensive by Ecuador against transnational criminal organizations, with U.S. support,» he affirmed before the committee.

Bombs and Covert Operations in Ecuador and Colombia

According to the senior Pentagon official, this offensive began with «bilateral kinetic actions against cartel targets along the Colombia-Ecuador border.»

In Pentagon parlance, that term referred to the attacks of March 3, which included bombings in Ecuadorian territory that had direct repercussions in Colombia. What started as a joint operation between Washington and Quito, supported with logistics and intelligence from the U.S., quickly escalated into incidents that crossed borders and sparked diplomatic tensions between the two South American nations.

The Intercept recalled that one of the most severe incidents occurred on March 3, when a bomb weighing about 227 kilograms, dropped by either U.S. or Ecuadorian forces—whose exact authorship remains officially unspecified—landed in Colombian territory, impacting a farm near the border.

On this occasion, Colombian President Gustavo Petro reported that a bomb «dropped from a plane» had appeared «very close to the border» with Ecuador.

«A bomb dropped from a plane has been found. We will thoroughly investigate the methods used, very close to the border with Ecuador, which somewhat reinforces my suspicion; we must investigate properly, that they are bombing us from Ecuador and they are not the armed groups,» the president expressed.

When approached by the cited outlet, U.S. Southern Command limited its response to referring to a statement from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defense, which confirmed the incident.

For his part, Humire defined this as part of a joint effort he termed «joint land attacks,» emphasizing that the U.S. is providing Ecuador with «capabilities that they otherwise would not have,» while Secretary of War Pete Hegseth celebrated on X the continuation of the bombings: «Yes—as @POTUS (Trump’s username on the platform) has stated—we are also bombing narcoterrorists on land.»

The White House then informed Congress in a report on war powers that a «military action» had been taken against «facilities of narcoterrorists affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.»

However, opacity has been the norm. Humire admitted to legislators that he could not specify how many land attacks had been executed in the nearly 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where the U.S. maintains some type of military presence. «I don’t have an exact number,» he replied.

Nonetheless, when Representative Adam Smith, a senior Democrat on the committee, asked him whether the Department of War was heading toward «many more land attacks,» Humire was unequivocal: «Yes, Mr. senior member.»

Expansion of the «Southern Lance Operation»

In Pentagon language, the term «deterrence» has acquired a new meaning. It no longer refers to a combination of economic, diplomatic, and military tools to deter adversaries from a particular course of action but has become a euphemism for the systematic use of lethal attacks. «Deterrence sends a signal to narcoterrorists and raises the risks of their movements,» Humire explained.

This logic fits into a broader strategy: the expansion of the so-called Southern Lance Operation, a covert campaign of attacks against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Since September 2025, the U.S. has carried out 46 bombings, destroyed 48 vessels, and killed nearly 160 civilians. The Trump administration claims that all victims belonged to one of the 24 criminal groups it has labeled as terrorists, although it has refused to identify them and has not provided proof that the vessels were transporting drugs to the U.S., as it has argued to justify the bombings.

General Francis Donovan, commander of Southern Command, acknowledged before the Senate that «attacks on ships are not the answer,» but hinted at an even more aggressive phase ahead.

«What we are moving toward now could be an extension of the Southern Lance, but in reality a campaign process against the cartels that creates total systemic friction through this network,» Donovan stated, describing the naval bombardments as «a small part» of what is to come.

The Threat to Petro

The choice of Ecuador as a launch point for the Total Extermination Operation is not coincidental, as just before the initial attacks on the border with Colombia, General Donovan traveled to Quito to meet with President Daniel Noboa and high military officials; meanwhile, the FBI established a «permanent presence» in the country, joining agents from the DEA and the Department of Homeland Security.

The Intercept noted that in August 2025, Lieutenant Colonel Phillip Vaughn, commander of an Air Force Special Operations Task Force, had already coordinated exercises to enhance «interoperability» between U.S. and Ecuadorian forces, including «operational planning scenarios» and «close air support» with joint terminal attack controllers.

The shadow of Trump’s escalation also looms over Colombia. A former defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, indicated to the investigative outlet that the Trump administration might be preparing an offensive against President Gustavo Petro. Recent official leaks regarding a potential indictment on drug trafficking charges against Petro—the same mechanism used to justify the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January—have raised alarms in Bogotá.

«It seems that Petro could be in the crosshairs,» the source warned, noting that the leaks, along with the U.S.-Ecuadorian attack—which has heightened tensions along the border between both South American countries—would form part of a coordinated campaign to foster «discord.»

When asked directly in January about the possibility of attacking Colombia, Trump responded with a phrase that now resonates as a warning: «I think that would be fine.»

Will Trump Take Cuba?

Simultaneously with military operations on the Ecuador-Colombia border, the ultra-right administration has set its sights on Venezuela and Cuba with a regime change agenda.

On January 3, following an armed incursion ordered by Trump that violated international law and resulted in over 100 deaths among civilians and military personnel, as well as an equal number of injuries, U.S. forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were taken to the U.S., where they are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, awaiting trial for alleged «narcoterrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices against the United States.»

Following the aggression against Venezuela, the Republican mogul recently hinted at the possibility of turning Venezuela into the 51st state of the United States, which would allow him to control the Caribbean nation’s energy resources.

However, Trump’s ambitions have Cuba as another central target, and the White House occupant has even repeatedly expressed his intention to realize the island’s annexation.

«I have Cuba under control,» Trump stated recently, only to clarify: «We will deal with Iran before we deal with Cuba,» highlighting that his high-cost war in the Middle East to achieve regime change in the Islamic nation currently takes precedence.

But while the conflict against the Persian nation monopolizes media attention, Washington has imposed an oil blockade on the island that has plunged its population into a humanitarian crisis and has been condemned by the United Nations as «a severe violation of international law.»

Behind these actions is a regime change operation. According to leaked reports, the Trump administration aims to force the ousting of President Miguel Díaz-Canel as a condition for negotiation. In response to the Republican’s threat, the Caribbean island’s leader warned on X: «The United States will meet with an impregnable resistance.»

The «Donroe» Doctrine and an Endless War?

The U.S. assault in the western hemisphere is framed within what the White House terms the «Donroe Doctrine», a reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. While the original policy by President James Monroe sought to prevent European intervention in the Americas, Trump’s version reverses this principle: it grants the U.S. the authority to intervene militarily in the region.

The National Security Strategy, published at the end of 2025, establishes the «Trump Corollary» as a «powerful restoration of U.S. power and priorities,» based on «readjusting our global military presence to address urgent threats in our Hemisphere.» Humire described that «immediate security perimeter» as a stripe extending «from Alaska to Greenland in the Arctic, down to the Gulf of America and the Panama Canal and surrounding countries.» Trump, in line with that vision, has threatened to annex Greenland, make Canada an additional state of the Union, and launch military attacks in Mexico.

The Intercept recalled that during the same hearing where he announced the expansion of the Total Extermination Operation, Humire was asked about what «level of achievement» would be necessary to «halt kinetic action». The acting Under Secretary of Defense merely responded with a string of words about border security, terrorism, and cartels, and when Democratic Representative Adam Smith interrupted him to clarify whether attacks against vessels would continue indefinitely, he confusingly answered: «No, correct.»

La entrada Trump’s «Total Extermination Operation»: Rising Military Actions Targeting Ecuador, Colombia, and Cuba se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.