Image Credit: Andrew Harnik / Staff / Getty Images 
President Trump gathered 12 Latin American leaders at Mar-a-Lago for the first “Shield of the Americas” meeting to discuss regional interests and the creation of a “counter-cartel coalition” to fight drug traffickers.
“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate ISIS, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” Trump told the leaders at the summit.
“We must recognize that the epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico,” Trump continued, saying Mexico is where “the cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere.”
Kristi Noem stepped into a new role as US envoy for the coalition, after stepping down on Thursday from her role as Secretary of Homeland Security.
“This is intended to be a group that works together to ensure we’re defending our own sovereignty, we’re each defending our own security and economic prosperity,” Noem said.
The organization would be a “powerful example to the rest of the world about what’s possible,” she added.
Present at the summit were the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Of the Mexican cartels, one of the main focuses of the summit, Trump said they’re “getting worse and taking over the country. The cartels are running Mexico. We can’t have that. Too close to us, too close to you.”
Two weeks ago, the US provided intelligence that led to the capture of one of the most important cartel bosses in Mexico, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho”, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG).
Trump complimented Venezuela’s new interim leader, Delcy Rodiguez. She replaced Nicholas Maduro after he was captured as part of a daring US special-forces raid on Caracas at the beginning of January.
The President also predicted an end to the communist regime in Cuba, which he said has now reached “the end of the line.”
“We’re looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said.
“They have no money, they have no oil, they have a bad philosophy and bad regime.”
“Cuba is in its last moments of life as it was but it will have a great new life”.
Trump took a swipe at China too, reasserting his policy vision of “the Donroe Doctrine.”
“We will not allow hostile foreign influence to gain a foothold in this hemisphere that includes the Panama canal.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also attended the summit, praised the Latin American leaders as true allies with a pointed reference to Britain and its Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who equivocated over providing support for the joint US-Israeli strikes against Iran.
“At a time when we have learned that an ally, when you need them, may not be there for you, these are countries that have been there for us,” he said.
“We want you to see that when you are a friend and ally to the United States it is a good thing and it is reciprocated back the other way.”
