Skip to main content
Colombia joining Nato puts Latin America on edge
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May (front row from left) watch a fly-by during a summit of heads of state and government at NATO headquarters in Brussels today

While pundits concentrate on noisy clashes between Donald Trump and Angela Merkel in Brussels, few have noticed that Colombia is joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) as a “global partner,” the first Latin American country to do so. 

In doing so, it joins eight other “global partner” countries in Nato: Afghanistan, Australia, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand and Pakistan.

Colombia has been seeking to join Nato since 2006. As a stepping stone, it signed an information sharing and security agreement in 2013 and in 2017 a partnership and co-operation programme. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
NEW INDIGNITIES FROM THE NEW TRUMP REGIME: Family members ho
Features / 27 March 2025
27 March 2025
Two months into Donald Trump’s second run as president, what can we glean about his policies towards Latin America so far, asks TIM YOUNG, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
FIRM REBUFF TO SEDITION: National Assembly President Jorge R
Features / 6 December 2024
6 December 2024
The new ‘Bolivar’ Act expands the brutal sanctions programme as the Trump team signals a return to aggressive regime change and foreign mercenaries plot insurrection and assassination, writes TIM YOUNG
An image of Republican presidential nominee former President
Features / 12 November 2024
12 November 2024
TIM YOUNG warns that the president-elect’s record of economic and political interference from his last stint in the White House show dangerous potential for escalated aggression against the Bolivarian government from 2025
President of Honduras Xiomara Castro delivers a speech durin
Features / 10 September 2024
10 September 2024
The left-wing president’s bold move counters the US ambassador’s threats and growing fears that a coup from Washington is being planned — but international solidarity is needed, writes TIM YOUNG
Similar stories
US President Donald Trump walks up the stairs to board Air F
Features / 27 February 2025
27 February 2025
The US projects its nation’s own sins, from funding narco crime to authoritarian rule, onto its ‘back yard’ — lashing out as Latin America drifts further into the multipolar future, write FRANCISCO DOMINGUEZ and ROGER D HARRIS
World / 22 December 2024
22 December 2024
NEW ERA: A woman holds an image of Colombia’s President Gu
Features / 6 May 2024
6 May 2024
Colombia’s first left-leaning government has faced subversion from the murderous right-wing elite it deposed, but it has not stopped moving forward with the peace process and social reforms needed, writes NICK MacWILLIAM