Trump encourages Latin American leaders to take military action to help US fight cartels

Trump encouraged regional leaders gathered at Miami-area golf clubs to take military action against drug cartels and transnational gangs that he said posed an “unacceptable threat” to national security in the Western Hemisphere.

“The only way to defeat these enemies is to unleash the power of our military,” Trump said. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.” “We must do the same now to root out cartels at home,” the Republican president said, citing the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in the Middle East.

The gathering was dubbed by the White House “America’s Shield” Just two months ago, Trump ordered the United States to take bold military action to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him and his wife to the United States to face drug conspiracy charges.

Trump’s decision to join forces with Israel has even greater consequences. Waging war against Iran A week ago, a conflict killed hundreds of people, Global markets fluctuate violently and Unrest throughout the Middle East.

Trump’s time to meet with Latin American leaders was limited: He then departed for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to attend a solemn handover ceremony. Six U.S. troops killed in action in a Drone attack command center Kuwait a day after U.S. and Israel launch missiles military action against iran.

Trump called the American deaths a “very sad situation” and praised the fallen soldiers as “great heroes.”

Trump hopes to use the summit to turn his attention to the Western Hemisphere, at least temporarily. He pledged to reaffirm U.S. dominance in the region and push back against what he sees as years of China’s economic encroachment into America’s backyard.

Trump also said the United States would turn its attention to Cuba after a war with Iran and suggested his administration would strike a deal with Havana, underscoring Washington’s increasingly aggressive stance against the island’s communist leadership. “Cuba is going to change dramatically very soon,” he said, adding, “They are in their final moments.”

Cuban officials have repeatedly said they are open to dialogue with the United States as long as Cuba’s sovereignty is respected, but they have never confirmed that such talks are taking place.

The leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago met with the Republican president at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, where he is also scheduled to host a G20 summit later this year.

The idea for a summit of like-minded conservatives in the Western Hemisphere was born out of the ashes of the 10th Summit of the Americas, which was canceled last year during the U.S. buildup off the coast of Venezuela.

The host country, the Dominican Republic, bowed to pressure from the White House and banned Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from participating in the regional meeting. But after left-wing leaders in Colombia and Mexico threatened to withdraw in protest — and Trump failed to commit to attending — Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader decided at the last minute to postpone the event, citing “deep divisions” in the region.

The American Shield moniker is intended to express Trump’s vision for an “America first” foreign policy in the region, leveraging U.S. military and intelligence assets not seen in the region since the end of the Cold War.

to this end, Ecuador The United States this week launched military action against organized crime gangs in the South American country. Ecuadorian and U.S. security forces on Friday raided a refuge in the Ecuadorian Amazon belonging to Colombia’s illegal armed group Comandos de la Frontera, authorities reported.

Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa said the joint operation against drug traffickers was “just the beginning.”

Notable at the summit was the absence of the region’s two dominant countries – Brazil and Mexico – as well as Colombia, which has long been key to the U.S. counter-narcotics strategy in the region.

Trump complained that Mexico was “the epicenter of cartel violence” and that drug lords “orchestrate much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere.”

“The cartels are ruling Mexico. We can’t tolerate that,” Trump said. “It’s too close.” Too close to you. “

Trump made no mention of his administration’s insistence that countering China’s influence in the Western Hemisphere is a top priority for his second term.

his national security strategy Extending the “Trump Corollary” to the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which sought to prohibit European invasion of the Americas by targeting Chinese infrastructure projects, military cooperation, and investment in the region’s resource industries.

In the first sign of a tougher approach, Trump pushed hard for Panama to withdraw from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and review a long-term port contract held by a Hong Kong company amid U.S. threats to retake the Panama Canal.

The recent U.S. capture of Maduro and Trump’s pledge to “manage” Venezuela could disrupt oil shipments to China, the top buyer of Venezuelan crude before the attack, and bring one of Beijing’s closest allies in the region into Washington’s orbit. Trump is scheduled to travel to Beijing later this month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

For many countries, China’s trade-focused diplomacy fills a serious fiscal void in a region that faces major development challenges such as poverty reduction and infrastructure bottlenecks. Trump, by contrast, has been slashing foreign aid to the region while rewarding countries that support his crackdown on immigration — a policy generally unpopular in the Western Hemisphere.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the leaders for a working lunch after Trump traveled to Delaware for an event. Lunch was given to Kristi Noem, Trump fires Homeland Security secretary On Thursday, she had the opportunity to debut in her new role as America’s Shield envoy.

“We want our Western Hemisphere to be more secure, more sovereign, more prosperous,” Noem told the leaders.

Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter Gabriela Molina in Quito, Ecuador, contributed to this report.

This article was generated from automated news agency feeds without modifications to the text.