Published on 08/03/2026 - 9:48 GMT+1

The Trump National Doral Miami hosted a meeting on Saturday between the US president and leaders from 14 countries in the region, convened under the 'Shield of Americas ' initiative.

Attendees included Javier Milei, Nayib Bukele and Chilean President-elect José Antonio Kast, along with the leaders of Ecuador, Paraguay, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, among others.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was not invited. Trump explained it unambiguously: he has rejected US aid to fight the cartels.

The centrepiece of the meeting was the announcement of a military alliance with a stated goal: to"eliminate the cartels" from the Western world. According to Trump, seventeen nations have formally joined.

"The essence of our agreement is a commitment to use lethal military force to destroy sinister cartels and terrorist networks," he told the gathering. The same resort, owned by the president, will host the G20 summit later this year.

Cuba, Venezuela and the Panama Canal

Trump devoted a significant part of his speech to Cuba. He said that the island is in its "last moments" and that he is negotiating directly with Havana through Cuban-born Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "They want to negotiate and I think an agreement will be reached very easily," he said. He did not rule out what he called a "friendly takeover" of the island.

At the same time, he formally recognised the government of Delcy Rodríguez in Venezuela, a country that has been undergoing a transition process for months under Washington's tutelage following the arrest of Nicolás Maduro.

Trump also announced an agreement on Venezuelan gold, although he did not specify the terms. On Panama, he reiterated that he will not allow "hostile foreign influence" in the Canal, which he called his "favourite canal" in front of Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino.

Iran in the background

On the sidelines of Latin American affairs, Trump referred to the bombings that the United States continues to carry out in Iran in the framework of Operation Epic Fury.

He claimed that in three days they have destroyed 42 Iranian military vessels and that the country "will be hit hard". Hours earlier, he had posted on Truth Social that Iran is no longer "the bully of the Middle East" but "the loser", a reference to the apology that the Iranian president made to the Persian Gulf countries after this week's attacks.