Trump Launches 17-Nation Counter Cartel Coalition at Shield of the Americas Summit

President Trump gathered leaders from a dozen Latin American and Caribbean nations at his Doral resort in March 2026 to sign a proclamation launching the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition, a 17-nation military alliance built around a commitment to using lethal force against drug cartels and narcoterrorist networks. The summit, framed as a correction to decades of U.S. neglect of the Western Hemisphere, also featured the reassignment of Kristi Noem from DHS Secretary to special envoy for the initiative, while Trump signaled that Mexico's cartels and Cuba's government are squarely in the coalition's crosshairs.