UNITED NATIONS — The president of the United States, Donald Trump, met this Tuesday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with his Latin American allies of the so-called Shield of the Americas, to whom he offered to intervene against the cartels within their countries if they cannot combat them themselves.
At the meeting were the leaders of Argentina, Javier Milei; from Chile, José Antonio Kast; from Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; from Guyana, Irfaan Ali; from Honduras, Nasry Asfura; from Paraguay, Santiago Peña; from Peru, Keiko Fujimori; and from the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, as well as the new vice president of Colombia, José Manuel Restrepo.
“For years, the cartels have waged war on the people of this hemisphere. Now we are waging war on them,” Trump declared before the leaders at the beginning of the meeting.
The Republican described these organizations as “violent paramilitary terrorist forces” that control territory and assured that the countries in the region have the support of the United States to confront them.
“Let us know and we’ll eliminate them, or you eliminate them on your own. I like that even more. If you can’t, we’ll do it for you,” said Trump, who also boasted of having influenced the electoral victories of some of his partners.
Preserve democracies in the region
Fujimori, recently inaugurated president of Peru, told Trump that her country has joined the Shield of the Americas “with great determination and enthusiasm” and applauded his “leadership.”
The vice president of Colombia, whose president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has also recently joined the Shield of the Americas, defended that this alliance serves to “preserve the democracies” of the region.
For his part, the Paraguayan president applauded that the United States arrested and deposed Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, while urging “to work” to achieve the democratization of that country, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua.
The Shield of the Americas is an alliance founded in March in Miami by Trump with conservative leaders from the region to combat drug trafficking, which does not include countries with leftist governments such as Mexico or Brazil, which oppose the United States carrying out operations in their territory.
Trump warns against use of military force
During his speech before the General Assembly this Tuesday, Trump threatened to use military force in Latin America if the interests of the United States are threatened.
Although he said he had a good relationship with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, he noted that Mexico is the “epicenter” of drug trafficking and urged his government to “recover” control of its territory.
Trump warned the UN General Assembly on Tuesday that he is willing to use his “unparalleled military power” to secure his interests in Latin America.
These interests involve a change of regime in Cuba, where the communist regime “will fall,” Trump assured, and also a relentless battle against the drug cartels, which are “the Islamic State” of the region, he added.
“The United States will no longer allow threats against America to gain ground anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And, if necessary, we will use our unmatched military power to secure vital American national interests,” Trump said.
“The cartels are the ISIS (Islamic State jihadist group) of the hemisphere” and, like the ISIS fighters, “they should be executed, exiled or detained,” the Republican explained.
The president declared these groups “terrorist organizations” in February of last year, and months later began a campaign of military attacks against alleged drug boats, in the Caribbean and then in the Pacific, with more than 200 deaths so far.
