Americas

Americas

Hegseth: US insists on Latin American allies' withdrawal from the ICC

13 August 2026 03:09 (UTC +04:00)

The American administration wants allies in the US-created "Shield of the Americas" alliance to withdraw from the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court (ICC), US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced in a speech in Panama, APA reports.

"Our nations retain their sovereignty and the ability to deploy our own military personnel to defend ourselves. We will never renounce our absolute right to defend ourselves against threats to our security and the security of the citizens of my country and your countries. We are accountable only to our own citizens and our own constitutions, not to unelected international bureaucrats. That is why I urge every member [of the alliance] to withdraw from the ICC and reject its attempts to strip your governments and your courts of sovereignty. I know that as a service member, I swore an oath of allegiance to the constitution, not to some phony and illegitimate international court," the head of the military department noted. The broadcast was broadcast on the Pentagon website. Shield of the Americas is an alliance of the United States and several Latin American countries that fight drug cartels and conduct joint military operations.