Seventeen nations signed a commitment to use lethal military force against drug cartels and narco-terrorist networks under a new coalition President Trump launched at a summit in Doral, Florida on March 7. The presidential proclamation establishes the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, the first hemispheric military alliance of its kind.
Twelve heads of state joined Trump at Trump National Doral for the inaugural Shield of the Americas Summit. Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago sent their presidents or heads of government. Five additional nations — the Bahamas, Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Peru — signed onto the coalition without attending.
The proclamation commits signatories to four objectives: demolish cartels and foreign terrorist organizations to the fullest extent of the law, deprive them of territory and financing, train and mobilize partner militaries, and counter malign foreign influences from outside the Western Hemisphere.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth formally launched the coalition two days earlier at U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Miami, where defense ministers from 18 countries signed a joint security declaration. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told the defense leaders there is no criminal justice solution to the cartel problem. The organizations, Miller said, can only be defeated with military power.
Trump delivered the summit’s only formal address. He told the assembled heads of state to use their militaries, not their police. He named Mexico the epicenter of cartel violence in the hemisphere and said he offered to eradicate the cartels there, but President Claudia Sheinbaum declined, saying Mexico would handle it. He said Cuba is in its last moments under its current regime and will soon see great change.
Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia — the three countries where the cartels are most deeply embedded — are not in the coalition. They are the problem the coalition was built to address.
The military operations preceded the proclamation. Operation Southern Spear has struck more than 40 suspected narco-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September. Trump told the assembled leaders that sea-based drug transport dropped 96 percent.
The ground campaign accelerated in 2026. The U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January. The Mexican army killed Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — known as El Mencho — in February with U.S. intelligence support. Colombian forces arrested a key Tren de Aragua leader with American law enforcement assistance.
Joint U.S.-Ecuador forces struck a narco-terrorist supply complex on March 5, the first American land-based military operation in Latin America under Trump’s second term.
Trump appointed Kristi Noem as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the assembled leaders Noem would be in contact with each of them personally on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader announced he would appoint his own envoy to coordinate with the coalition.
Since the summit, Chile’s José Antonio Kast was inaugurated on March 11. He attended the Doral meeting as president-elect and is now a sitting coalition head of state. Kast ended Chile’s presidential transition early after clashing with outgoing President Gabriel Boric over a submarine cable project connecting Chile and China — a project that drew sharp U.S. criticism.
The coalition has 17 signatories, a presidential proclamation, and a special envoy. The proclamation gave a name and a framework to a fight already underway.
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