In a relentless demonstration of multinational capability, the United States and Colombia executed Operation Trident in April 2026, targeting key maritime smuggling routes in the Eastern Pacific and reinforcing a clear message: Narcoterrorism networks no longer can rely on maritime borders to escape justice. Coordinated by U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), which brings together a 21-nation partnership alongside multiple U.S. agencies, the operation highlighted how integrated action is choking off transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) across the region.
The Eastern Pacific remains a primary corridor for trafficking cocaine and marijuana north from South America. These illicit revenues continue to finance a range of destabilizing activities, including terrorism, weapons trafficking, extortion, human trafficking, kidnapping and murder. To move these shipments, traffickers rely on adaptive tactics — fast boats, low-profile vessels, semisubmersibles and nighttime operations — leveraging the vastness of the maritime domain to avoid detection. Operation Trident shattered that assumption.
A centerpiece of this success is the U.S. Ship Special Mission (SSM) capability. Operating hundreds of miles offshore, the SSM functions as a forward-deployed “mothership,” extending the operational reach of partner nation forces. By embarking Colombian Navy teams and high-speed interceptors, the SSM enables forces to position deep in the maritime environment and intercept traffickers before they detect enforcement presence.
This forward-deployed model proved effective through successive interdictions. In one instance, a Colombian Navy team launched from the SSM intercepted a vessel, seized 3,259 kilograms of marijuana and apprehended three traffickers. Shortly thereafter, the same team pursued a second vessel, whose crew attempted to discard its cargo during the chase. Colombian forces recovered 900 kilograms of cocaine and apprehended three additional individuals, including an Ecuadorian national, underscoring the transnational nature of these networks.
According to a Colombian official authorized to speak on behalf of the operation, seamless collaboration with JIATF-S helps remove funding pathways from entities working to destabilize the Western Hemisphere by placing “maximum pressure on all illicit economies operating in our theater.”
Perhaps the operation’s most illustrative moment came during a coordinated pursuit that spanned three national jurisdictions. The sequence began when U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (AMO) detected a go-fast vessel and maintained tracking. The Colombian Navy launched a high-speed interceptor from the SSM and moved to intercept.
As pressure mounted, the smugglers attempted to evade capture by crossing into Panama’s exclusive economic zone, assuming jurisdictional boundaries would disrupt pursuit. They were wrong. Instead, the operation transitioned seamlessly. As Colombian forces handed off pursuit to Panama’s National Air and Naval Service (SENAN), which deployed interceptors augmented by maritime patrol aircraft.
Under continued pressure from SENAN, the crew began jettisoning their illicit cargo. Panamanian forces later recovered 49 bales. The smugglers then entered Costa Rican waters, only to be met by interceptors from the Costa Rican Coast . After warning shots compelled compliance, the Coast Guard boarded the vessel and took control, concluding the multinational operation.
The coordinated effort resulted in the seizure of 173 packages of cocaine and 1,266 packages of marijuana.
“The SSM concept fundamentally rewrites the rules of the counternarcotics mission,” said a spokesperson for SOUTHCOM’s JIATF-S. “We are no longer just patrolling the ocean; we are actively hunting these networks. By injecting artificial intelligence and machine learning into our intelligence pipeline, we can rapidly process millions of maritime data points to predict cartel movements and expose hidden routes.”
This success in the Eastern Pacific is not an isolated victory but also is part of a broader campaign led by Colombia to dismantle illicit networks across the hemisphere. The Colombian Aerospace Force’s (FAC) Zeus strategy — a multinational effort involving dozens of countries and agencies from the Americas and the Caribbean — serves as a testament to this commitment.
Since 2019, Operation Zeus has yielded significant results across multiple theaters. For example, during Zeus Caribbean, conducted with the Dominican Republic, Colombian forces interdicted go-fast vessels and seized over 1,600 kilograms of cocaine. In Zeus Central America, Colombian air assets deployed to Guatemala and Honduras to strengthen regional interdiction capabilities. Meanwhile Zeus Condor in South America led to the seizure of nearly 700 kilograms of cocaine and the immobilization of a trafficker aircraft in Belize.
But the Zeus strategy is only one component of Colombia’s integrated framework. The Colombian Navy also has played a central role through Operation Orion, launched in 2018, which has contributed to sustained maritime interdiction efforts. Together, these initiatives form the backbone of Colombia’s Air and Sea Shield — a multinational framework that brings together 42 nations across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Oceania, along with 130 institutions and agencies, including 23 U.S. government entities.
Operation Trident and ongoing operations under Colombia’s Air and Sea Shield send a message to narcoterrorism networks: There are no safe routes, there is no sanctuary at sea and the coalition is relentless. Through the integration of U.S. intelligence, air and maritime capabilities with the operational expertise of partner nations such as Colombia, JIATF-S and its partners are systematically shutting down key trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific.
Diálogo Américas is a publication of the United States Southern Command.