Shield of the Americas

Multinational military coalition From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Shield of the Americas (SotA), operationally the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (ACCC or A3C), is a multinational military and political coalition established by U.S. president Donald Trump on March 7, 2026, during a summit with leaders from countries across the Western Hemisphere. According to President Trump, the initiative would involve participating countries sharing intelligence and coordinating operations to locate and dismantle cartel networks. The Shield of the Americas serves as the forum for member heads-of-state/government, while the A3C is the operational arm of the coalition, focusing on targeting cartel infrastructure and trafficking routes.

HeadquartersUnited States Southern Command, Doral, Florida, United States
Official languages
[1]
TypeInternational military and political coalition
Membership
Shield of the Americas Summit:
Other members:
Quick facts Escudo de las Americas (Spanish), Headquarters ...
Shield of the Americas
Escudo de las Americas (Spanish)
Motto: "We do bad things to bad people."
Map of the states that joined the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition
Map of the states that joined the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition
HeadquartersUnited States Southern Command, Doral, Florida, United States
Official languages
[1]
TypeInternational military and political coalition
Membership
Shield of the Americas Summit:
Other members:
Leaders
• Chairman
Pete Hegseth
Kristi Noem
• Commander of the Joint Task Force-Western Hemisphere
Kevin Jarrard
Establishment
March 5, 2026
• Inaugural summit
March 7, 2026
Websitewww.state.gov/policy-issues/shield-of-the-americas
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On March 5, 2026, President Trump announced that Kristi Noem would be the inaugural special envoy for the initiative, in the same Truth Social post that announced her replacement as the secretary of homeland security.[2]

On March 7, 2026, President Trump stated that representatives from 17 nations had joined the initial alliance, which centers on the commitment to use military capabilities to disrupt and dismantle cartel organizations and associated terrorist networks. The initiative was presented during a summit in Doral, Florida, attended by regional leaders, including Javier Milei of Argentina, Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, Santiago Peña of Paraguay, and other representatives.[3][4]

History

Background

The grouping that became the Shield of the Americas emerged from lobbying following Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 United States presidential election. Countries in the region, largely aligned ideologically with the incoming administration, sought to secure political, financial, and military support.[5][6] Presidents Javier Milei of Argentina, Daniel Noboa of Ecuador, and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador were among the most involved, attending Trump's second inauguration on January 20, 2025.[5] Their efforts would result in Argentina and El Salvador receiving loans from the IMF, World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank; the U.S. relied on its high vote share in these institutions to push the loans through.[6]

Leandro Morgenfeld, coordinator for the study group on the U.S. of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences, argues that the alignment of Bukele, Milei, Noboa, and Peña with Trump is due to the latter's revival of the Monroe Doctrine in foreign policy. He explains that governments in the Americas that don't align with the United States are subject to threats, while those that are aligned become subject to American neocolonialism.[7] Ivan Briscoe, a senior policy director from the International Crisis Group, argued on NPR that Trump's foreign policy toward Latin America is intended to build a coalition ideologically aligned with his administration.[8] Those politically or militarily opposed to his administration's actions in the Americas, even traditional allies such as Brazil and Colombia, have faced travel restrictions and sanctions from the United States. Most of the MAGA movement see the Americas as a territorial extension of the continental United States.[9][10] Concerning the region, the 2025 National Security Strategy says the United States "will reward and encourage the region's governments, political parties, and movements broadly aligned with our principles and strategy."

Formation

On March 7, 2026, President Trump signed a proclamation launching the Shield of the Americas initiative, establishing an Americas Counter Cartel Coalition. The signing took place at the Shield of the Americas Summit at Trump National Doral Miami. The proclamation commits participating nations to coordinate military and law enforcement efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations, particularly drug cartels. Attendees included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.[11]

Summits

More information No, Date ...
NoDateHost countryVenueChair
1March 7, 2026 United StatesTrump National Doral Miami Resort and SpaDonald Trump
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Ideology

The coalition is characterized as predominantly right-wing, albeit with some left-leaning or social democratic governments, like Guyanese President Irfaan Ali, with most member countries' ruling parties ranging from centre-right to far-right. Governments, especially those aligned with the policies of the second Trump administration, are caudillist[12][13] and right-wing populist—anti-establishment, autocratic, socially conservative, and personalist.[14][15]

They share opposition to the influence of left-wing politics, from social democracy to communism, mainstream media, and checks and balances on the executive branch. Socially, they are firmly pro-life, while opposing LGBTQ and women's rights. Law and order is another common priority in how these governments approach issues of internal security and public safety. Economically, they vary in emphasizing limited government and economic liberalism.[14][15]

When discussing their shared identity at the ACCC’s inaugural conference, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said member countries were “offspring of Western civilization,” united by “our heritage, our history and geography in this new world.” Focusing on the challenges the coalition aims to address, he asked “whether our nations will be and remain Western nations with distinct characteristics, Christian nations under God, proud of our shared heritage with strong borders and prosperous people, ruled…by law, order, and common sense,” contrasting this with “radical narco-communism and narco-tyranny, which threaten our people, borders and sovereign lands in the name of a false sovereignty or a false peace.”[16]

Participating countries

Representatives from the United States and 11 countries in Central and South America, as well as countries from the Caribbean, attended the inaugural summit, namely:

State leaders at the Shield of the Americas Summit

Outside the inaugural summit attendees, six countries also signed on to the initial Joint Security Declaration:

Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti, Cuba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Suriname, Dominica, Brazil, and Venezuela, as well as Denmark (which administered Greenland), France (which administered French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, the Collectivity of Saint Martin and Saint Pierre and Miquelon), the Netherlands (which administered Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and the special municipalities of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius) and the United Kingdom (which administered Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands, Montserrat, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands) were absent from the summit and did not participate in the initial meeting of the initiative.[17]

President-elect of Chile José Antonio Kast and his nominated Minister of Defense, Fernando Barros attended the meeting, but not in an official capacity as they could not legally sign the agreement because the then government of President Gabriel Boric was not invited nor represented.

Organization

The Shield of the Americas is officially an international military and political coalition,[18][19] where issues are coordinated and addressed with right-wing governments aligned to the United States under the second Trump administration.

Shield of the Americas Summit

Main article: Shield of the Americas Summit

Illegal and mass migration, drug trafficking, foreign interference, and organized crime were first discussed at the level of heads of state or government who were invited to the inaugural Shield of the Americas Summit on March 7, 2026. The event was presided over United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kristi Noem as Special Envoy for the Shield of the Americas.[20][21] As special envoy to the coalition, they diplomatically coordinate with invited heads of state or government on behalf of the United States to address the above issues.[22][23][24] At the working lunch of the inaugural summit, Noem told attendees, "I will, when the press leaves, give you all my personal cell phone number so that you can reach me at any time that you may need something."

Americas Counter Cartel Conference

The Americas Counter Cartel Conference is the operational conference of the coalition,[16] by extension the operational arm of the Shield of the Americas.[25] Member states' ministers of defense or security convene to coordinate militarily addressing drug trafficking, organized crime, and threats to critical infrastructure.[16] It was held at the SOUTHCOM Conference Center of the Americas in Doral, Florida, where the inaugural meeting was hosted March 4–5, 2026. The conference, and thus the coalition, is chaired by United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth,[26] and coordinated by Gen. Francis Donovan, commander of the United States Southern Command.[27][28]

At the inaugural conference, participating ministers signed the Americas Counter Cartel Joint Security Declaration, with Hegseth finally signing on March 5, all committing to join the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.

Security cooperation

Main article: Joint Interagency Task Force South
Main article: Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs

Countries attending the summit have increased access to United States military equipment, training, and intelligence to militarily address the Shield of the Americas’ priorities.[29] As part of the overall coalition, countries counter-narcotics efforts have been conducted utilizing intelligence fusion and information sharing from Joint Interagency Task Force-South, a subordinate command of SOUTHCOM.[30][31][32] Their coast guards are supported as law enforcement by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs in these efforts.[33] Member countries militaries also have access to the United States Space Force’s Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking (TacSRT) for operations against transnational criminal infrastructure.[34]

Ideological networks

The Shield of the Americas has described itself as a political coalition,[18] characterized as being mostly ideologically right-wing and aligned with the United States,[35][36] evolving out of a right-wing populist network influencing the second Trump administration's foreign policy in Latin America.[14][37] Prior to the establishment of the Shield of the Americas, this network consisted of Bukele, Milei, and Asfura, who employed political strategist Fernando Carimedo. Carimendo has close political ties with Trump and played a prominent role in the 2022–2023 Brazilian election protests favouring Bolsonaro, live-streaming Brazil Was Stolen, claiming that voting machines were tampered with to favour Lula de Silva.[38] Ecuadorian president Daniel Noboa would also ideological align himself with the U.S. president Donald Trump’s second term foreign policy in Latin America after the latter’s second inauguration.[39][6] To varying extents, Catham House, The Economist, El Pais, The Financial Times, and The Jerusalem Strategic Tribune[40] include in the network:

Parties and movements associated with these figures include:

Following the elections of Keiko Fujimori and Abelardo de la Espriella as president in the 2026 Peruvian and Colombian presidential elections, both the administrations announced its intention to join the Shield of the Americas and that they will give a "very significant space" for cooperating with the Trump administration against Venezuela.[41]

Despite the governments of the coalition countries' being predominantly right-wing, Guyana, also a member of the coalition, had a centre-left social democratic government under Irfaan Ali.

See also

Notes

References

External links

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