March 7 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced at Saturday’s “Shield of the Americas” summit in Florida that a new military coalition will focus on drug trafficking and cartels.
Trump said at the Doral meeting with 12 Latin American leaders that “America’s Counter Cartel Coalition” will conduct operations against cartels across the region.
At least 17 nations have already signed on to the agreement.
“The heart of our agreement is a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all,” Trump said. “We’ll get rid of them. We need your help. You have to just tell us where they are.”
Trump had pledged earlier this year to hunt down drug cartels. His pledge was followed by a series of attacks on on alleged narco-terrorist vessels in the Caribbean Sea.
The president’s Saturday remarks also touched on the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, an operation he described as “18 minutes of pure violence.”
Trump praised Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, whose country re-established diplomatic relations with the United States earlier in the week.
“I mean, she’s doing a great job because she’s working with us,” he said. “If she wasn’t working with us, I would not say she’s doing a great job. In fact, if she wasn’t working with us, I’d say she’s doing a very poor job. Unacceptable.”
The summit was attended by Argentine President Javier Milei, Bolivian leader Rodrigo Paz, Chilean President José Antonio Kast, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Honduran President Tito Asfura, Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Trinidad and Tobago President Christine Kangaloo.