The Pentagon has resumed sending conventional ground forces to Panama for jungle training for the first time in over two decades, reviving a three-week course once nicknamed the “Green Hell.”

The program, run at Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, is small for now but expected to expand over the next year and is presented as a partnership to boost Panama’s regional security capacity rather than to prep for a specific mission.

The move reflects a broader U.S. shift of focus to Latin America under President Trump, tied to concerns about drug flows and strategic competition — including worries about Chinese influence over the Panama Canal — and serves as a visible signal to Venezuela.

The site, formerly Fort Sherman, was long used for harsh jungle training before U.S. forces left Panama in 1999, and the terrain poses significant operational challenges, ABC News has reported.

A pilot course has already produced 46 graduates, and officials plan to send platoon-sized rotations as the program scales up.