The US Has Restarted Jungle Warfare In Panama After 25 Years
For the first time in roughly 25 years, the US has restarted jungle warfare training in Panama, signaling a broader return of American military activity in Latin America, according
# THE TAKE: Panama's a Pressure Valve, Not a Pivot
The Pentagon didn't "restart" anything—it rebranded occupation. Calling it "jungle warfare training" obscures the real operation: maintaining hemispheric control while China finances infrastructure projects the US ignored for decades.
Panama invited US boots back because Noriega's gone and the canal's still the chokepoint. But here's what gets buried: American military presence never actually left—it just got quieter. Now they're loud about it again because Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative are moving into the vacuum Washington abandoned.
This isn't strategic awakening. It's panic dressed in camo. The US spent 25 years nation-building in the Middle East while losing Latin America's backyard. Now they're playing catch-up with exercises while China builds ports.
The receipts are in the SOUTHCOM budget increases and the timing—right after Panama's government shifted.
Classic overreach theater. This practical gap is significant: a quarter-century absence suggests the US military had shifted its operational focus away from Latin American terrain, making this restart a deliberate pivot rather than routine training maintenance. The Panama operations don't exist in isolation. Bloomberg documents a broader pattern of militarization across the hemisphere under Trump's watch. Washington has negotiated new military agreements with El Salvador and Paraguay, expanded security coordination in Ecuador, and conducted drone strikes in the Caribbean. Trump administration officials have publicly discussed military action against drug cartels in Mexico, increased pressure on Cuba and Venezuela, and repeatedly raised the possibility of reclaiming control of the Panama Canal itself. Historian Alan McPherson characterizes this approach as a "coercive, multifaceted new imperialism"—combining military threats with trade pressure and diplomatic leverage. Trump has directly instructed regional leaders to respond to organized crime by "unleashing the power of our militaries," establishing a clear doctrinal framework for escalation. What the mainstream press underplays is the methodical integration of forces visible on the ground. At the Panamanian jungle camp, US and Panamanian troops share barracks, eat together, and train as integrated units. This level of daily coordination builds operational muscle memory and establishes command structures for joint operations—the infrastructure for rapid deployment if political circumstances shift. During one training exercise, an American soldier explained how animal traps could be repurposed for combat, illustrating how the training transcends counterinsurgency platitudes and focuses on direct warfare capabilities in populated terrain. The strategic implications cut deeper than counternarcotics rhetoric. Panama controls the hemisphere's most critical shipping chokepoint, and the Canal's ownership has remained a nationalist flashpoint since the 1977 treaty restored it to Panamanian control. By reestablishing military presence and operational training after 25 years, the US is rebuilding the practical capability to project force in the region while establishing justifications around drug trafficking and security cooperation. For ordinary people across Latin America—and American taxpayers funding this expansion—the restart of jungle warfare training represents a commitment to military solutions over diplomatic ones, with consequences likely to extend far beyond the stated counternarcotics mission. Disclosure: NewsAnarchist aggregates from public records, API feeds (Federal Register, CourtListener, MuckRock, Hacker News), and independent media. AI-assisted synthesis. Always verify primary sources linked above.
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