Trump rallies Latin American allies against drug cartels

US-led Shield of the Americas coalition backs sanctions against crime groups after Trump urges stronger action.

US President Donald Trump participates in a Shield of the Americas event on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York City on September 22, 2026 [Kylie Cooper/Reuters]

United States President Donald Trump has pledged to use “unmatched military might” against drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere during a meeting of the Washington-led Shield of the Americas coalition in New York City.

In a meeting with leaders and foreign ministers from the anti-cartel alliance, Trump on Tuesday urged member countries to join the US in targeting 24 criminal organisations, which he earlier described as the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere”.

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He said he was asking “all nations in the Shield of the Americas to formally designate narco-terrorists as common threats to stability and apply crushing sanctions” against all of the groups. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City.

The coalition’s 15 governments later issued a joint statement saying they intended to impose asset freezes and visa restrictions on members and supporters of the groups and to pursue criminal charges against them.

At the top of the list are two groups that have been declared “terrorist” organisations by Washington: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) – one of Central America’s most powerful criminal gangs – and Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that is also active in Colombia, Peru and Chile.

The list also includes major Mexican cartels, Colombian armed groups such as the National Liberation Army, Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho groups, and Peru’s Shining Path.

Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Bogota, Colombia, said the statement was largely symbolic for now, because each country must follow its own legal procedures.

“For example, here in Colombia, it will require a law to pass in Congress. We understand that the government here has asked Congress to move forward in drafting such a law. So while the consequences may not be immediate, this is clearly an important step towards building what the US has been trying to do in Latin America [through] this alliance,” he added.

The coalition is made up of governments closely aligned with Trump, including Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador, whose leaders he has praised or endorsed. Colombia and Peru joined after Trump-aligned presidents took office in recent months.

Brazil and Mexico have not joined.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also attended, praised “the emergence of strong leaders who are committed to the challenge of taking on transnational terrorism”.

The gathering was the administration’s latest effort to rally the region behind a more aggressive approach to drug trafficking. Since returning to office last year, Trump has designated cartels as foreign terrorist organisations and ordered dozens of strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that US officials say were carrying narcotics bound for the US.

The strikes have killed more than 223 people, and UN experts say they violate international law and could amount to crimes against humanity.

The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, released late last year, laid out plans for a revamped Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century policy asserting US primacy in the hemisphere that critics associate with decades of US intervention.

Trump has also spoken of retaking the Panama Canal and annexing Greenland and Canada. On Tuesday, he signed an agreement on Greenland that stopped short of his demand that the island become US territory.

The focus on the hemisphere has raised concerns across the region.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in his UN speech, bristled ⁠at the approach, warning countries in Latin America and the Caribbean of “renewed hegemonic temptations”.

“Brazil is nobody’s back yard,” Lula said.

在特朗普敦促采取更强有力的行动后，美国领导的“美洲之盾”联盟支持对犯罪集团实施制裁。

2026年9月22日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在纽约举行的第81届联合国大会期间参加“美洲之盾”活动。[凯莉·库珀/路透社]

美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在纽约市举行的由华盛顿领导的“美洲之盾”联盟会议上承诺，将动用“无与伦比的军事力量”打击西半球的贩毒集团。

周二，特朗普在与反卡特尔联盟领导人和外长举行的会议上敦促成员国与美国一道打击24个犯罪组织，他此前将这些组织描述为“西半球的ISIS”。

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他表示，他呼吁“美洲之盾”所有成员国正式将毒品恐怖分子列为对稳定的共同威胁，并对所有相关组织实施严厉制裁。此次会议在纽约举行的联合国大会期间举行。

该联盟的 15 个成员国政府随后发表联合声明称，他们打算对这些团体的成员和支持者实施资产冻结和签证限制，并对他们提起刑事诉讼。

名单之首是两个被华盛顿宣布为“恐怖组织”的团体：马拉萨尔瓦特鲁查（MS-13）——中美洲最强大的犯罪团伙之一——以及阿拉瓜列车，一个委内瑞拉团伙，在哥伦比亚、秘鲁和智利也很活跃。

该名单还包括墨西哥主要贩毒集团、哥伦比亚武装团体（如民族解放军）、巴西第一首都司令部和红色司令部，以及秘鲁光辉道路组织。

半岛电视台驻哥伦比亚波哥大记者亚历山德罗·兰皮埃蒂报道称，该声明目前很大程度上具有象征意义，因为每个国家都必须遵循自己的法律程序。

“例如，在哥伦比亚，这需要国会通过一项法律。我们了解到，哥伦比亚政府已要求国会着手起草此类法律。因此，虽然其后果可能不会立即显现，但这显然是朝着美国一直试图通过这一联盟在拉丁美洲实现的目标迈出的重要一步，”他补充道。

该联盟由与特朗普关系密切的政府组成，包括阿根廷、厄瓜多尔和萨尔瓦多，特朗普曾赞扬或支持这些国家的领导人。哥伦比亚和秘鲁在近几个月特朗普阵营的总统上任后也加入了该联盟。

巴西和墨西哥尚未加入。

出席会议的美国国务卿马可·卢比奥赞扬了“致力于应对跨国恐怖主义挑战的强有力领导人的涌现”。

此次集会是特朗普政府为争取该地区支持其采取更强硬的打击毒品走私措施而采取的最新举措。自去年重返总统职位以来，特朗普已将贩毒集团列为外国恐怖组织，并下令在加勒比海和东太平洋对数十艘船只进行空袭，美国官员称这些船只载有运往美国的毒品。

空袭已造成超过 223 人死亡，联合国专家表示，这些空袭违反了国际法，可能构成危害人类罪。

特朗普政府去年底发布的《国家安全战略》制定了对门罗主义进行改革的计划。门罗主义是19世纪的一项政策，旨在确立美国在西半球的主导地位，批评人士认为它与美国数十年的干预有关。

特朗普还曾扬言要重新夺回巴拿马运河，并吞并格陵兰岛和加拿大。周二，他签署了一项关于格陵兰岛的协议，但该协议并未满足他将该岛纳入美国领土的要求。

对西半球的关注引发了整个地区的担忧。

巴西总统路易斯·伊纳西奥·卢拉·达席尔瓦在联合国大会上发表讲话，对这种做法表示强烈不满，并警告拉丁美洲和加勒比海国家要警惕“新的霸权诱惑”。

“巴西不是任何人的后院，”卢拉说。