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President Donald Trump spoke out on Tuesday regarding the dismantling of the cartels operating in the Western Hemisphere, describing them as a direct threat to the region's security and warning of their connection to adversarial powers of the United States. The statement was disseminated by the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Department of State through its official account on X, under the event title Doral 2026 / Shield of the Americas.
“These brutal criminal organizations represent an unacceptable threat to national security and constitute a dangerous gateway to our region for foreign adversaries,” Trump stated in a declaration published this Tuesday.
The statement comes three days after the Summit of the Americas Shield, held last Saturday at the Trump National Doral Miami, where Trump gathered leaders from 12 conservative-leaning Latin American and Caribbean countries to launch a regional military coalition against drug trafficking and organized crime.
Among the attending leaders were Javier Milei (Argentina), Nayib Bukele (El Salvador), Daniel Noboa (Ecuador), José Raúl Mulino (Panama), Luis Abinader (Dominican Republic), and the elected Chilean president José Antonio Kast, among others. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also participated in the meeting.
During the summit, Trump signed a decree committing to the use of lethal military force against the cartels. “We have gathered to announce a new military coalition to eradicate the criminal cartels that plague our region,” he stated at the time. “The heart of this agreement is the commitment to use lethal military force to destroy the cartels. We are going to finish them off,” he added.
The strategy is framed within what the administration refers to as the "Donroe Doctrine", a reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 aimed at countering the influence of China, Russia, and Iran in the hemisphere. The Trump administration had previously designated Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which provides a legal basis for direct military actions.
The anti-narcotics offensive has multiple active fronts. On January 3rd, U.S. special forces captured Nicolás Maduro, accused of leading a Venezuelan narcoterrorist cartel that facilitated the shipment of cocaine to the United States. One day prior to this Tuesday's announcement, on Monday, March 9th, the U.S. executed a lethal attack against a drug boat in the Pacific, resulting in six deaths.
Progressive-oriented governments such as Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia were excluded from the Doral summit. Colombia's absence is particularly significant, given that Trump has publicly accused President Gustavo Petro of tolerating “cocaine factories” in his territory.
During the summit last Saturday, Trump also made a direct reference to Cuba: “Cuba is at the end of the line. They have no money, they have no oil,” he stated, which was interpreted as a sign that the Cuban regime is not exempt from scrutiny under the new hemispheric doctrine of Washington.
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