Donald Trump switched the channel from Iran to the Western Hemisphere on Saturday, calling a meeting of Latin American leaders at his Miami-area golf club to discuss regional interests and establish what he called an “anti-cartel coalition.”
“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate Isis, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told 12 regional leaders gathered at what the White House called the “Shield of the Americas” summit.
“We must recognize that the epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico,” where “the cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere.”
Trump brought together the summit of leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, just two months after a US military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who is awaiting trial on drug and weapons conspiracy charges in the United States.
Also among those in attendance was outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had been selected as a special envoy to the regional coalition, which Trump announced along with the news of his ouster on Thursday.
Less than two weeks ago, U.S. law enforcement provided intelligence assistance in a raid in Jalisco, Mexico, to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG) and one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the world. El Mencho was injured in the shooting and died while being transported to Mexico City.
Trump congratulated Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who was not present at the meeting, but still maintained that the cartels “are getting worse and taking over the country. The cartels are ruling Mexico. We cannot allow that. Too close to us, too close to you.”
He also congratulated Delcy Rodríguez, interim president of Venezuela, who offered to “collaborate” with the Trump administration. “She’s doing a great job working with us,” he said. Last week, the United States legally recognized the Venezuelan government.
Trump repeated his prediction that Cuba, which had depended on Venezuelan oil, now faces collapse. “We look forward to the great change that will soon come to Cuba,” Trump said, stating that the Caribbean nation was “at the end of the line.”
“They have no money, they have no oil, they have a bad philosophy and a bad regime,” the American president said, but he also said that the regime wanted to negotiate with the United States. “Cuba is in its last moments of life as it was but it will have a great new life.”
Trump offered what could be the guiding thread of US policy toward its neighbors, also known as the “Donroe Doctrine,” toward regional cooperation and countering Chinese economic and political interests. “We will not allow hostile foreign influences to gain a foothold in this hemisphere that includes the Panama Canal,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked Trump for making the Western Hemisphere a priority and praised regional leaders not only as allies but as friends. In what was a criticism of the United Kingdom for its weak response in supporting the US attacks on Iran, Rubio said:
“At a time when we have learned that an ally, when you need it, may not be there for you, these are countries that have been there for us,” he said, adding: “We want you to see that being a friend and ally of the United States is a good thing and is reciprocated in the opposite way.”
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the United States had focused for too long on the borders of remote places “and not on our own borders, in our own Western Hemisphere.”
