By Anietie anii-bassey
President Donald Trump on Saturday called on governments across Latin America to join the United States in launching a more aggressive campaign against drug cartels and transnational criminal networks, urging regional leaders to consider deploying military forces to confront what he described as a growing threat to security throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Speaking at a gathering of presidents and senior officials at his golf resort near Miami, Trump said criminal organizations involved in narcotics trafficking, weapons smuggling and human trafficking have grown powerful enough to destabilize countries across the Americas.
He argued that coordinated military action may be necessary to dismantle the networks that operate across borders and challenge national governments.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump told leaders assembled at the meeting. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.”
Trump compared the proposed effort to the multinational campaign that dismantled the extremist group Islamic State in the Middle East, saying a similar coalition approach could be used to eliminate organized crime groups operating throughout the Americas.
“We did it before against ISIS,” he said. “We must now do the same thing to eradicate the cartels at home.”
The meeting, organized by the White House and branded the “Shield of the Americas” summit, brought together leaders from across Latin America and the Caribbean as the administration sought to demonstrate that the United States remains committed to strengthening partnerships in the hemisphere.
The gathering took place even as Washington grapples with multiple international crises, including the escalating war involving the United States, Israel and Iran that began a week earlier and has already left hundreds of people dead while rattling global financial markets.
Despite those developments overseas, Trump used the summit to highlight what he described as a renewed focus on security and political cooperation within the Western Hemisphere.
The summit also occurred two months after Trump authorized a dramatic U.S. military operation targeting the government of Venezuela. During that mission, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was captured and transported to the United States along with his wife to face charges related to alleged drug trafficking conspiracies.
Trump has since portrayed the operation as a decisive step in dismantling criminal networks tied to Venezuela’s leadership while also signaling a broader shift toward a more assertive American strategy in the region.
The president’s time at the Florida summit was limited, however. Shortly after addressing the gathering, he departed for Dover Air Force Base to attend a dignified transfer ceremony honoring six American soldiers killed in a drone strike on a command center in Kuwait. The attack occurred one day after the United States and Israel launched their military campaign against Iran.
Even with the growing tensions in the Middle East, the administration used the meeting to draw attention back to issues closer to the United States. Trump has repeatedly pledged to reassert American leadership in the region and counter what he views as expanding economic and political influence by China across Latin America.
During his remarks, Trump also signaled that U.S. policy toward Cuba could soon shift dramatically. He suggested that once the war with Iran stabilizes, Washington will focus more directly on Havana and pursue negotiations aimed at reshaping the relationship between the two countries.
“Great change will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said, adding that the island’s communist government was “very much at the end of the line.”
Leaders attending the summit included representatives from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago.
The event was held at Trump National Doral Miami, a resort owned by Trump that is also scheduled to host the upcoming G20 Summit later this year.
The concept for the new gathering emerged after plans for the 10th Summit of the Americas collapsed amid political disagreements across the region. That event had been scheduled to take place in the Dominican Republic but was postponed following disputes over which countries should be invited.
At the time, the Dominican government — under pressure from Washington — barred Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from attending. The decision triggered strong criticism from several governments.
Leaders in Colombia and Mexico threatened to boycott the meeting, and uncertainty over whether Trump himself would attend ultimately led Dominican President Luis Abinader to postpone the summit, citing deep divisions among participating nations.
The new Shield of the Americas summit is smaller in scope but reflects Trump’s broader vision for an “America First” approach to the region. The strategy emphasizes expanded military cooperation, intelligence sharing and coordinated security operations against criminal groups.
Notably absent from the gathering were the hemisphere’s two largest powers, Brazil and Mexico, as well as Colombia, which has historically been one of Washington’s most important partners in the fight against narcotics trafficking.
Some analysts said the absence of those countries highlighted the limitations of the new initiative.
According to Richard Feinberg, a former National Security Council official who helped organize the first Summit of the Americas in 1994, the contrast between that earlier gathering and the current meeting reflects a significant shift in regional diplomacy.
“The first Summit of the Americas, with 34 nations and a carefully negotiated agenda for regional competitiveness, projected inclusion, consensus and optimism,” Feinberg said. “This smaller meeting creates a very different image, with only a handful of governments gathered around a dominant figure.”
Another major issue discussed during the summit was the growing geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China across Latin America.
Since returning to office, Trump has made countering Chinese influence in the hemisphere a central element of his national security strategy. His administration has promoted what officials describe as the “Trump Corollary” to the historic Monroe Doctrine, which originally sought to prevent European powers from expanding their presence in the Americas.
Under the updated approach, Washington is focusing on limiting China’s involvement in infrastructure projects, military cooperation agreements and investments in natural resource industries throughout the region.
One of the clearest examples occurred earlier this year when the United States pressured Panama to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and reconsider port agreements held by a Hong Kong–based company. The move came amid warnings from Washington that it might reevaluate control of the strategically vital Panama Canal if Chinese influence continued to grow.
More recently, Trump’s capture of Maduro and his suggestion that the United States could effectively oversee Venezuela’s future has raised the possibility that the country’s oil industry — once closely tied to China — could shift back toward Washington’s sphere of influence.
Trump is expected to travel to China later this month to meet with Xi Jinping, a visit likely to include discussions about economic competition and global security.
Despite Washington’s efforts, analysts say many Latin American countries remain reluctant to sever economic ties with Beijing. Trade with China has expanded rapidly over the past decade, providing financing for infrastructure and development projects across the region.
Experts note that for many governments facing economic challenges, Chinese investment offers opportunities that the United States has not always matched.
“The U.S. is offering tariffs, deportations and militarization,” said Kevin Gallagher, who studies China’s economic diplomacy in the Americas. “China is offering trade and investment.”
He suggested that some countries may attempt to maintain neutral positions in the rivalry between the two global powers in order to benefit from both relationships.
Before the summit began, Trump appointed Kristi Noem — recently removed from her role as homeland security secretary — as his special envoy for the Shield of the Americas initiative.
Noem said the president planned to announce a major agreement during the meeting that would strengthen cooperation across the hemisphere in the fight against drug cartels and international trafficking networks.
“This is about a big agreement on how we’re going to go after cartels and drug trafficking in the entire Western Hemisphere,” she said, describing the initiative as one of the most ambitious regional security efforts in years.
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