Trump offers Latin American leaders US missile strikes to hit drug cartels
The US president launched a 17-nation ‘counter cartel’ coalition at his ‘Shield of the Americas’ summit
US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.
Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington’s interests in the western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was “in its last moments of life” and advocating tough action by allies against organised crime blighting the region.
He formally launched a 17-nation “counter cartel” coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use “hard power” against security threats.
“We’re working with you to do whatever we have to do. We’ll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They’re extremely accurate,” Trump told a dozen right-wing leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club near Miami.
“‘Piu’, right into the living room,” he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. “That’s the end of that cartel person. But we’ll do whatever you need.”
Trump has already staked bold claims in Latin America with the ousting of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro and working with his replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, to claim Venezuelan oil reserves for America.