Authored by Emel Akan and T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,
U.S. President Donald Trump on March 7 welcomed his Latin American allies to Florida for a summit focused on addressing regional issues and announced a new military coalition to combat drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere.
“On this historic day, we come together to announce a brand new military coalition to eradicate the criminal cartels plaguing our region,”Trump said as he began his remarks at the summit.
He said that the new partnership, called the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, will leverage military resources, including the possible use of missiles, to combat the cartels.
The heads of state of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago attended today’s summit, the White House said.
The event, called the Shield of the Americas Summit, is taking place at Trump National Doral Club in Miami and is the first such regional meeting to bring together, as the State Department described, “like-minded allies” in the Western Hemisphere.
“We’re going to be doing some incredible things together,”Trump told the leaders.
All countries in attendance are governed by right-wing or center-right parties, while left-leaning governments such as Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico did not participate in the summit.
On March 5, Trump announced that outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem will lead the effort as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
During his remarks, Trump criticized previous U.S. administrations for abandoning the Western Hemisphere.
Source: ZeroHedge News
