US President Donald Trump hosted Latin American leaders on Saturday at his Miami-area golf club for what the White House called the ‘Shield of the Americas’ summit.
The meeting comes days after Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth hosted a summit on drug trafficking enforcement with Latin American leaders at the US Southern Command, also in Doral, Florida.
Trump appeared briefly at the summit, fulfilling his commitment to Western Hemisphere politics, despite the current war unfolding in Iran, where the US is now involved.
During his appearance, Trump signed a proclamation launching the regional coalition.
In attendance were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. Notably, the leaders of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia were not in attendance.
The three region heavyweights are currently led by left-leaning presidents.
What is Shield of the Americas?
The Trump administration has pledged a renewed focus on Latin America, which it has described as the ‘Trump Corollary’ to the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine which back then sought to ban European incursions in the Americas.
The White House has billed the summit as the founding of the ‘Americas Counter Cartel Coalition’ which they described as a new military partnership with leaders in the region.
Notably, the ‘Shield of the Americas’ will have Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as its special envoy.
Noem, who was recently sacked as chief of Homeland Security said she was looking forward to the new role, as well as working with Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on security issues in the region.
She said the summit’s declaration centred on ‘how we’re going to go after cartels and drug trafficking in the entire Western Hemisphere’.
Trump offers to target drug cartels
In his remarks, Trump said Latin America was ‘a great part of the world’, with tremendous potential that could only be fulfilled if cartels and criminal gangs were defeated.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump said, echoing the message of the summit on drug cartels that Hegseth hosted previously.
“We’re working with you to do whatever we have to do. We’ll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They’re extremely accurate,” Trump said.
‘‘Piu, right into the living room,” he said, mimicking the sound of missiles. “That’s the end of that cartel person. But we’ll do whatever you need,” the US president added.
DW
