US President Donald Trump hosted a dozen Latin American leaders in Florida on Saturday for his so-called Shield of the Americas Summit. At the meeting, the Republican president proposed a pact to form a “military coalition” against organized crime, sent messages to the Venezuelan government, and issued warnings to two countries with which he frequently has tensions: Mexico and Cuba.
Trump convened the summit to discuss regional security with other leaders. At the end of Saturday’s meeting, the president and some members of his cabinet announced an agreement to form a common bloc to combat criminal groups in the Americas.
“On this historic day, we are meeting to announce a new military coalition to eradicate the criminal cartels that plague our region,” Trump said.
The measure aligns with one of the priorities Trump has set during his second presidential term: security and the fight against crime, even if it requires the use of the military and lethal force. Since last September, US forces have carried out dozens of attacks against vessels allegedly transporting drugs in international waters of the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. These operations, criticized by some sectors both inside and outside the United States, have resulted in the deaths of more than 100 people.
This Saturday, the 12 Latin American leaders who participated in the summit and endorsed the coalition—primarily right-wing politicians—were the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei; Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz; Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves; Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; El Salvador, Nayib Bukele; Guyana, Irfaan Ali; Honduras, Nasry Asfura; Panama, José Raúl Mulino; Paraguay, Santiago Peña; and the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, as well as the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and the President-elect of Chile, José Antonio Kast. Following the summit, some of them celebrated the agreement promoted by Trump.
Pete Hegseth, U.S. Secretary of Defense, said that a total of 18 countries will participate in this anti-crime bloc.
During his security address at the end of the summit, Trump not only spoke about the new coalition. He also referred again to the security problems in Mexico, a country with which the United States shares a border of more than 3,100 kilometers.
“The epicenter of the cartels is Mexico,” the president said, adding, “We are going to do what is necessary to stop them.”
Since beginning his current presidential term on January 20, 2025, Trump has said that, while he has a good relationship with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, he believes her government is not doing enough to stop drug traffickers. He has even raised the possibility of U.S. forces conducting operations on Mexican soil, something Sheinbaum has rejected.
This Saturday, after a public event, Sheinbaum avoided entering into a controversy with Trump. In response to questions from reporters, he said he would keep a cool head and would address his US counterpart’s remarks on Monday.
Trump dedicated part of his speech to Cuba, a country on which his administration has been increasing pressure throughout the year, following the operation carried out by US forces in Venezuela to capture President Nicolás Maduro. The ousted leader, accused in the United States of various charges which he denies, was a longtime ally of Cuba.
Since Maduro’s departure from power, Trump has said that the Cuban socialist regime is about to fall. This Saturday he reiterated that scenario.
“Cuba is in its final moments, they have no money, they have no fuel. They have a bad regime, which has been bad for a long time,” he said.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel responded to the remarks hours later. On his X account, he criticized the summit convened by Trump and asserted that those who supported it show “a willingness to submit to the interests of the powerful neighbor to the North under the precepts of the Monroe Doctrine,” as the set of principles that seek the predominance of the United States’ influence on the continent is known.
Source: cnnespanol
