The U.S. Department of Defense is calling on Latin American countries to raise security spending to nearly 3.5% of GDP to combat organized crime, Bloomberg reported on July 8. The United States has made similar demands of its NATO allies, with partial success.

The U.S. message was delivered at a July 8-9 biennial conference of defense ministers from across the Americas in Peru, where U.S. Defense Undersecretary Elbridge Colby said spending less than 1% of GDP on defense "violates common sense." According to a U.S. official, Latin American countries spend between 1.2% and 1.3% of their GDP on defense. The pressure comes as the Trump administration pivots to a militarized fight against transnational criminal organizations in Latin America as part of its "Donroe Doctrine," which has included strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats, increased intelligence-sharing and on-the-ground cooperation and strikes on cartels in Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela.