Trump Gathers Latin American Leaders in Miami for 'Shield of the Americas' Summit

Washington, Mar 7 (Prensa Latina) – U.S. President Donald Trump today managed to gather in Miami the Latin American leaders who “share the same priorities” of his political agenda in his so-called Shield of the Americas Summit. The event, which is taking place this Saturday morning at the Republican leader's golf club in that Florida city, officially announced this new alliance of countries that fractures the region. Trump's Shield of the Americas (“Shield of the Americas”) is his alliance with 12 regional leaders ideologically aligned with him, representing another step in this administration's geopolitical vision. The imperialist policy of the Monroe Doctrine, reflected in the National Security Strategy, is the renewed principle of “America for the Americans,” proclaimed over 200 years ago by James Monroe to dominate this part of the world. According to Trump, the region was abandoned by the United States for many years, which is why he stated they are forming a common shield to promote shared priorities in the hemisphere. The Republican leader insisted on his rhetoric of a region facing serious problems linked to drug trafficking and violence, and warned that “most of the drug comes through Mexico.” Until recently, let's recall, it was Venezuela. That is why he emphasized his idea of 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 maintained that just as he went after terrorism in the Middle East, “we have to do the same to eradicate the cartels” in our hemisphere and “the United States is going to do whatever is necessary to protect our national security,” he pointed out while insisting that law and order will prevail on the continent, as if this part of the geography were an extension of the North American country. Trump boasted that the current U.S.-backed government of Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela “is doing a great job” and that oil “is starting to flow.” On January 3, Trump ordered a large-scale attack on the South American nation that ended with the kidnapping of its constitutional president, Nicolás Maduro, who, along with his wife Cilia Flores, were forcibly extracted and taken to a prison in the United States. He also boasted of a joint anti-drug operation in Ecuador and of the war he initiated alongside Israel against Iran. The official photo shows the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei; Bolivia, Rodrigo Paz; Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves; Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader; El Salvador, Nayib Bukele; Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, and Honduras, Nasry “Tito” Asfura. Also present were Panama's José Raúl Mulino; Paraguay's Santiago Peña, and Trinidad and Tobago's Kamla Persad-Bissesar, as well as Chile's elected president, José Antonio Kast. Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil were left out of the Shield's feast. The U.S. National Security Strategy also specifies as one of its objectives in Latin America to eliminate or reduce China's influence in the region, which is also 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 combat narco-terrorist criminal cartels and mass migration, not only to the United States, but across the entire continent.” Meanwhile, the State Department described the encounter as a moment when “the United States will welcome our best, like-minded allies in our hemisphere to advance freedom, security, and prosperity in our region.” The Shield of the Americas Summit was the perfect pretext for the White House to get into the game when, due to divisions, the possibility of holding the Summit of the Americas in 2025 in the Dominican Republic failed.