By Mark Anderson
While television sets beamed with reports of bombs falling in Iran, a different sort of bombshell erupted in Doral, Fla. near Miami—the Shield of the Americas Summit, held March 7. There, President Donald Trump, flanked by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant, and several other top-level officials, declared war on Latin American drug cartels.
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The organizers, whose shield concept was first announced just two days before the summit, also are promising to further improve American border security as another key part of the plan.
Trump hosted heads of state at the summit, representing a dozen nations from across the Western Hemisphere. Those in attendance included the leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. Noticeably absent were Mexican representatives.
Trump gave remarks that were distilled into a definitive online White House statement which notes that the summit’s outcome facilitated the creation of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.
In the wake of allegations that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents engaged in human rights abuses resulting in deaths and injuries during apprehension operations of illegal aliens in Minnesota, Trump’s move to quickly implement this plan serves to show that he’s serious about getting the truly “bad guys”—people far more worth the federal government’s time and money than the sundry illegals living and working in various U.S. states.
Trump’s White House statement read:
The United States, under my leadership, has demonstrated a sustained commitment toward achieving the dismantlement of cartels and foreign terrorists operating in the Western Hemisphere. My administration has designated a number of cartels and transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organizations and has since dedicated unprecedented resources towards their destruction.
Trump added:
In furtherance of our efforts, the secretary of War established the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, a pledge from military leaders and representatives from 17 countries demonstrating that the region is ready to operationalize hard power to defeat these threats to our security and civilization. We will address these grave dangers … together with our partner nations.
Stepping back and looking at the big picture, one is inclined ask, Is an anti-cartel “NATO” taking root? It is, after all, geographically consistent with Trump’s recent invocation to resurrect the Monroe Doctrine and police and protect the Western Hemisphere.
As Trump noted in his spoken remarks at the summit, the nations in this new coalition will be led by a U.S. military that will be fueled by spending not merely at the current $1 trillion level—but by upward of $1.5 trillion, with plans for bringing back battleships, starting with building 10 of them. He added that Cuba’s regime is on its last leg and will be brought down.
Hegseth chimed in that this isn’t just the Monroe Doctrine put into action. It’s the “Donroe Doctrine.”
Increased U.S. control of the Panama Canal is in the works, too. The overall theme behind this master plan smacks of reviving the 1890s and the hemispheric dominance and strong Americanist ethos of the era.
Trump’s relationships with some Latin American leaders have soured, however, and his policies have drawn criticism, as some leaders characterized the U.S. raid that captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as an attack on that oil-rich nation’s sovereignty. Trump has also been critical of Mexico’s efforts to fight drug cartels and traded barbs with the president of Colombia.
Following the Jan. 3 Venezuela raid, however, Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro appeared to have patched up their differences.
The day before the assembly, Kristi Noem had been fired from her post as head of the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security by Trump, then she was fast-tracked to a new role as a special envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
There remain questions about the way Noem handled a $220 million DHS advertising campaign featuring her riding horses, among other things, as well as evidence she may have approved a no-bid ad contract for the multi-million-dollar public relations deal. A large percentage of the funds reportedly went to an ad agency that had only been in existence less than a month, according to Rep. Joe Negus (D-Colo.) Negus recently grilled Noem about possible conflicts of interest in the ad campaign.
Noem’s final day as head of DHS will be on or around March 31. Taking her place will be Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), a staunch Trump supporter and former mixed martial arts fighter.
