U.S. President Donald Trump brought together Latin American leaders who “share the same priorities” on his political agenda at his so-called Shield of the Americas Summit in Miami on Saturday.
At the event, held this Saturday morning at the Republican president’s golf club in that Florida city, this new alliance of countries that is fracturing the region was officially launched.
Trump’s Shield of the Americas is his alliance with 12 leaders from the region who share his ideology, representing a further step in this administration’s geopolitical vision.
The imperialist policy of the so-called “Donroe Doctrine,” reflected in the National Security Strategy, is a renewed application of the “America for the Americans” principle, proclaimed more than 200 years ago by James Monroe to dominate this part of the world.
According to Trump, the region was neglected by the United States for many years, which is why he stated that they are forming a common shield to promote shared priorities in the hemisphere.
The Republican president reiterated his rhetoric about a region facing serious problems related to drug trafficking and violence, and warned that “most of the drugs enter through Mexico.” Until recently, it was Venezuela.
Therefore, he emphasized the need to eradicate drug cartels and proposed restoring law and order through a zero-tolerance policy against gangs.
“Those who rape and murder must be removed from society” to guarantee the safety of citizens, he said.
He argued that just as terrorism was tackled in the Middle East, “we have to do the same to eradicate the cartels” in our hemisphere, and “the United States will do whatever is necessary to protect our national security,” insisting that law and order will prevail on the continent, as if this part of the world were an extension of the United States.
Trump boasted that the government under Delcy Rodríguez’s tutelage in Venezuela “is doing a great job” and that the oil “is starting to flow.”
On January 3, Trump ordered a large-scale attack against the South American nation that ended with the kidnapping of its constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, who, along with his wife Cilia Flores, was forcibly removed and taken to a prison in the United States.
He also boasted about a joint operation against drug trafficking in Ecuador and the war he started with Israel against Iran.
OFFICIAL PHOTO
The official photo features the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei; Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz; Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves; Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader; El Salvador, Nayib Bukele; Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali; and Honduras, Nasry “Tito” Asfura.
Also pictured are the presidents of Panama, José Raúl Mulino; Paraguay, Santiago Peña; and Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissesar, as well as the president-elect of Chile, José Antonio Kast.
Mexico, Colombia and Brazil were not invited to the Shield celebration.
The U.S. National Security Strategy also specifies eliminating or reducing China’s influence in Latin America as one of its objectives, a goal that is equally evident here.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the participants in the meeting “are the leaders of these countries who have formed a historic coalition to collaborate and tackle narco-terrorist criminal cartels and mass immigration, not only to the United States, but throughout the continent.”
For its part, the State Department described the meeting as a moment in which “the United States will welcome our best like-minded allies in our hemisphere to promote freedom, security, and prosperity in our region.”
The Shield of the Americas Summit was the perfect pretext for the White House to enter the fray when, due to internal divisions, the possibility of holding the Summit of the Americas in the Dominican Republic in 2025 fell through.
IMAGE CREDIT: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the “Shield of the Americas” Summit / March 7, 2026. Photo: Kevin Lamarque, REUTERS
[ SOURCE: PRENSA LATINA ]
