President Donald Trump on March 7 welcomed his Latin American allies to Florida for a summit to address regional issues, including drug cartels and illegal immigration, as well as counter China’s growing influence in the region.
“On this historic day, we come together to announce a brand new military coalition to eradicate the criminal cartels plaguing our region,” Trump said as he began his remarks at the summit.
“We’re calling this military partnership the Americas’ Counter-Cartel Coalition.”
The event, called the Shield of the Americas Summit, is taking place at Trump National Doral Club in Miami and is the first such regional meeting to bring together, as the State Department described, “like-minded allies” in the Western Hemisphere.
The heads of state of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago are attending today’s summit, the White House said. -- 📺 Watch NTD News 24/7 on cable, broadcast, and streaming: https://www.ntd.com/watch
President Trump welcomed Latin American leaders to Florida over the weekend, announcing a new coalition against drug cartels.
The initiative is set to give Trump a chance to project strength closer to home and to pull Latin America closer to Washington.
President Donald Trump hosted Latin American leaders in Florida on Saturday to announce the formation of a military coalition against drug cartels.
The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all. We'll get rid of them.
At least a dozen leaders from Central America, South America and the Caribbean joined what was called the Shield of America Summit convened by Trump, who signed a proclamation launching the coalition.
In the last year as Secretary of Homeland Security, we have focused on securing our border.
We have transformed our country from one that was being invaded by enemies, millions of them that were coming in unvetted, that we didn't know who was there and who wished to harm us.
We've secured that border. We've focused on removing public safety threats.
But you can't have economic progress without security.
Trump has cited drug cartels as a primary reason for ramping up his administration's involvement in Latin America, pressuring Venezuela over the past several months and seizing its president, Nicolas Maduro, in January.
The Trump administration has also deepened direct involvement in the region by tightening enforcement of the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba.
On Saturday, Trump said Cuba wants to make a deal with the U.S. and is negotiating with him and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
As we achieve a historic transformation in Venezuela, we're also looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba.
Cuba's at the end of the line.
