Trump's "Shield of the Americas” summit

President Donald Trump is set to gather with Latin American leaders on Saturday at his Miami-area golf club as his administration looks to demonstrate it’s still committed to sharpening U.S. foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere even as it deals with five-alarm crises around the globe.The gathering, which the White House is calling the “Shield of the Americas” summit, comes just two months after Trump ordered an audacious U.S. military operation to capture Venezuela’s then-president, Nicolás Maduro, and whisk him and his wife to the United States to face drug conspiracy charges.

The leaders of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago have confirmed they will take part in the gathering at the Republican president’s Trump National Doral Miami, a golf resort where he is also set to host the Group of 20 summit later this year.The idea for a summit of like-minded conservatives from across the hemisphere emerged from the ashes of what was to be the 10th edition of the Summit of the Americas, which was scrapped during the U.S. military buildup off the coast of Venezuela last year.

Host Dominican Republic, pressured by the White House, had barred Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela from attending the regional gathering. But after leftist leaders in Colombia and Mexico threatened to pull out in protest — and with no commitment from Trump to attend — the Dominican Republic’s president, Luis Abinader, decided at the last minute to postpone the event, citing “deep differences” in the region.The Shield of the Americas moniker is meant to speak to Trump’s vision for a “America First” foreign policy toward the region that leverages U.S. military and intelligence assets unseen across the area since the end of the Cold War.But notably missing will be the region’s two dominant powers — Brazil and Mexico — as well as Colombia, long the linchpin of U.S. anti-narcotics strategy in the region.

@sgtdjones



Airfan speaks. Cuba is next!

Sell out conference look who there and not there the continents three biggest economies and biggest countries.

@googley

Sorry, I don't join sites, as you noted above.

So I cannot comment.

Do you have a franchise in Cuba, Pandit, another tax-free haven? 😂

@velo

These countries and their leaders were invited to a summit of like-minded conservatives from across the Western Hemisphere to confront the twin scourges of narcotics and illegal firearms. The flow of drugs and guns into their jurisdictions has been economically and socially devastating, hollowing out communities and destabilizing already fragile sectors. None of them can tackle the problem in isolation.

The United States, for its part, is asking for their cooperation in disrupting and dismantling these networks, because the fallout is regional and touches every layer of society, from public health and education to crime, investment, and governance.

In Trinidad and Tobago, narcotics activity appears to be intensifying rather than easing. Recent intelligence-led operations have already produced major seizures of marijuana and firearms, underscoring both the scale of the threat and the urgency of coordinated action.

@sgtdjones

I am present in many places 😜

First they came for ….

I wasn’t one so I said nothing

next they came for….

I wasn’t one so I said nothing

….….….….

…………….

and then they came for me

....................

Sodden

I see why you are alleged to be a failure.

The above words tell so much. Not even an original thought.

The T&T PM's objective is simple:

Help is needed to rid T&T of the smuggling of narcotics and guns... It's destroying T&T's economy.

The comment that the Caribbean is a site of peace...is BS.

Look at the crime and murder rates on these peaceful islands.