Days after Iran strikes, Trump hosts Latin American leaders to form anti-cartel coalition

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Latin American leaders to Florida on Saturday to announce the formation of a military coalition against drug cartels, in line with an argument that he has been making throughout his second term in office.

Trump has cited drug cartels as a primary reason for ramping up his administration’s involvement in Latin America, pressuring Venezuela over the past several months and seizing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.

At least a dozen leaders from Central America, South America and the Caribbean joined the “Shield of the Americas” summit convened by Trump, who signed a proclamation launching the coalition.

“It’s a great part of the world, but to fill that tremendous potential, we must smash the grip of the cartels and criminal gangs and horrible organisations run by, in some cases, absolute animals and truly liberate our people,” Trump said.

Kristi Noem will be special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas”, Trump posted Thursday. Noem was Homeland Security secretary until Trump removed her from that post this week after mounting criticism of her from Congress.

Saturday’s gathering gives Trump a chance to project strength closer to home even as the conflict in the Middle East leads to consequences he may not fully control, such as rising prices for oil and gas.

But the Trump administration also has been looking for ways to counter growing Chinese influence in the region.

Saturday’s summit took place as Trump prepares for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing at the end of March. The Trump administration hopes to pull Latin America closer to Washington after years of growing Chinese trade, lending and infrastructure investment in the region.

The summit brings together conservative leaders aligned with Trump on security, migration and economics.

RIGHT-WING ALLIES ATTEND SUMMIT

Among those attending are Argentine President Javier Milei, Chile’s president-elect Jose Antonio Kast and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, whose gang crackdown, criticised by human rights groups, has become a model for parts of Latin America’s right.

Politicians from across the region have toured Bukele’s sprawling “mega-prison”, where the United States last year deported more than 200 Venezuelans without trial.

Also joining the gathering are Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who narrowly won a disputed election with Trump’s backing, and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, who has echoed parts of Trump’s economic agenda and recently announced joint operations with the U.S. in a military crackdown on drug trafficking.

Many of the leaders share Trump’s hardline view of crime and migration, favoring crackdowns over deeper social fixes and private business over the state. Their rise reflects a broader rightward turn in parts of Latin America at a time when the region is being pulled between Washington and Beijing.

COUNTERING CHINA’S GROWING REGIONAL INFLUENCE

Ryan Berg, who heads the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China’s trade with the region hit a record $518 billion in 2024, with Beijing loaning more than $120 billion to governments across the Western Hemisphere.

China’s increased involvement in Latin America — from satellite tracking stations in Argentina and a port in Peru to economic support for Venezuela — has been an irritant for successive U.S. administrations.

China has expanded its reach through trade, loans and infrastructure, while the Trump administration has pushed governments in the region to curb Beijing’s role in ports, energy projects and other strategic assets.

That pressure was on display recently when Panamanian authorities moved against a Hong Kong-based firm tied to operations in the Panama Canal, a key global freight channel.

Washington has also taken more direct steps in the region.

The United States captured Maduro on January 3 and moved to seize control of the country’s oil exports, and has tightened enforcement of the decades-long U.S. embargo on Cuba.

Several Trump administration officials have told Reuters that Trump’s move against Maduro was intended in part to counter China’s ambitions, and that Beijing’s days of leveraging debt to get cheap oil from Venezuela were “over.”