U.S. Southern Command has established a task force to coordinate action against organized criminal threats with U.S. military and regional security partners, adding a new mechanism to Washington’s security role in Latin America. The Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, stood up Aug. 4, is intended to facilitate and coordinate action by the U.S. military and regional partner states, according to a Defense One analysis.

The task force’s creation follows the launch in March of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, a U.S.-led body created to coordinate regional actions against transnational organized crime. The two entities point to a SOUTHCOM effort to build more structured cooperation with governments confronting criminal groups. They also provide forums where U.S. and SOUTHCOM officials can help build strategic agreement, guide operational planning, resolve disputes among members and influence governments outside the groups.

The task force and coalition emerge as the United States pursues a more direct security role in the region. Operation Southern Spear began last year with U.S. Navy strikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels, according to the analysis. It later expanded to include the reported U.S. abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and renewed economic and military pressure on Cuba.

SOUTHCOM has also worked to integrate U.S. forces into local security operations. In March, the command dispatched forces to assist Ecuadorian security forces in action against an alleged criminal hub inside Ecuador. That episode demonstrated one form of U.S. involvement in a regional security operation, while the task force is intended to help coordinate action against organized criminal threats involving the U.S. military and regional partner states.

On Aug. 12, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala had approved U.S. participation in combined operations against criminal entities. The announcement identified governments that had approved that participation, but did not establish that they were members or partners of the Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere. It also did not specify the operations’ timing, locations or participating U.S. units.

The push for cooperation carries political complications. The Defense One analysis says several Latin American governments have adopted tougher policies against organized crime and were broadly sympathetic to Maduro’s removal. It also says the boat strikes connected to Operation Southern Spear and the Maduro operation generated unease in a region shaped by a long history of U.S. interventionism.

That history makes regional support important to the task force’s broader purpose. The analysis says U.S. diplomats and senior SOUTHCOM personnel have sought regional buy-in, or at least acquiescence, for a larger U.S. role in Latin America. It describes political and material incentives to attract participation and efforts to link security and economic assistance to cooperation in areas of U.S. interest.

The coalition and task force therefore represent more than separate additions to the U.S. security bureaucracy. Together, they create organizational channels for coordinating with governments and for shaping regional discussions about responses to transnational organized crime. The task force’s stated mission is to facilitate and coordinate action against those threats, while the coalition provides a U.S.-led body for regional coordination.

The Aug. 12 announcement adds evidence that some governments are willing to authorize combined operations with U.S. participation. But the available details do not identify those operations as activities of the task force. The immediate significance of the new command structure is its role as a coordination mechanism, set against SOUTHCOM’s effort to secure broader regional cooperation for U.S. security initiatives.