Trump announces new military coalition to combat cartels across Americas
Baku, March 8, AZERTAC
US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced the creation of a new military coalition aimed at combating powerful criminal gangs and cartels across the Americas, saying the initiative is necessary to restore law and order in the Western Hemisphere, Anadolu Agency reports.
Speaking at the Shield of Americas Summit, Trump said the new alliance, formally called the America’s Counter-Cartel Coalition (ACCC), will deepen military cooperation among regional partners to counter transnational criminal organizations that he described as a growing threat to regional and global security.
About the ongoing strikes on Iran, Trump said it is a “service that we're really providing, not for the Middle East, but for the world,” Trump said during the summit.
The gathering brought together several leaders from the Americas, including Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, and Chilean president-elect Jose Kast.
Speaking at the summit, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: “The America's Counter Cartel Coalition, the ACCC, will be a force for good, for peace through strength in this hemisphere.”
Trump said the coalition is being launched because large areas of the hemisphere have fallen under the influence of violent criminal networks.
“Leaders in this region have allowed large swaths of territory in the Western Hemisphere to come under the direct control of transnational gangs,” he said. “These brutal criminal organizations pose an unacceptable threat to national security.”
According to Trump, the groups operate through “murder, torture, extortion, drug trafficking, bribery and terror,” and in some cases have developed military capabilities that rival national armed forces.
“In some cases, they say they’re more powerful than the military in the country. Can’t have that,” he said.
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