Colombia will host the headquarters of the Shield of the Americas

The president-elect of Colombia, Abelardo de la Espriella, announced that his country will host the headquarters of the Shield of the Americas, an international military initiative spearheaded by President Donald Trump to combat organized crime and drug trafficking.

At this time, Colombia is not a member of the Shield of the Americas, but De la Espriella has stated on several occasions that his country will join soon.

In a video posted on social media, the Colombian conservative leader confirmed that Medellín, the city where "the head of the drug trafficking serpent" is located, will be the headquarters of the initiative.

"We are going to have—and this is a very important announcement—the main headquarters of the Shield of the Americas," said De la Espriella. "Most orders to the rest of the country originate from Medellín and the metropolitan area, so we're going to focus on Medellín to fight crime as we should."

The Shield of the Americas, an international cooperation initiative to combat organized crime, was launched by Trump in March, during a summit held in Miami, Florida, attended by leaders from various countries in the Americas.

In addition to the United States, the following countries initially joined this alliance: Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Trinidad and Tobago.