President Trump promised to use military force against drug cartels — Jerusalem Post
US President Donald Trump said during the UN General Assembly in New York that he intends to use the United States’ “unrivaled military might” against threats in the Western Hemisphere, including drug cartels. He called transnational criminal groups the equivalent of ISIS in the Western Hemisphere and urged tougher action against them.
The Jerusalem Post reported this, citing Trump’s address to world leaders at the UN. The US president also said that US actions in Venezuela had demonstrated Washington’s readiness to prevent threats to American interests in the region from gaining strength.
Coalition against drug cartels
Trump later met at UN headquarters with leaders and foreign affairs chiefs from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries that joined the Shield of the Americas coalition. He called on participants to support recognizing 24 groups linked to drug trafficking as a threat to stability and to impose sanctions against them.
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After the meeting, the participating states issued a statement pledging to take steps to introduce joint sanctions. The coalition, which Trump launched in March, includes Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia and Peru, among others. Brazil and Mexico did not join it.
Brazil’s reaction and US actions
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in his UN address, warned Latin American and Caribbean countries against the return of hegemonic ambitions. He said that Brazil is not anyone’s backyard.
According to the publication, after returning to power at the beginning of last year, Trump designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. The United States also carried out dozens of strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean that US officials said were transporting drugs to the United States. Human rights groups said the strikes, which killed more than 220 people, were extrajudicial killings.
