Donald Trump (C), while running for his second term, greets participants during a roundtable with Latino community leaders at Trump National Doral Miami resort in near Miami in October 2024. File Photo by Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA
President Donald Trump will meet Saturday near Miami with 12 Latin American leaders at the “Shield of the Americas” summit, a gathering focused on security and migration that aims to lay the groundwork for a multilateral alliance in the region.
The meeting marks the first major regional summit organized by Trump since returning to office. It comes amid geopolitical tensions with Iran, a new regional landscape after the apprehension by the United States of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January and growing U.S. concern about China’s influence in Latin America.
Only leaders aligned with the Trump administration were invited to attend. Trump named fired Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, but it was not clear whether she would attend the summit.
They include Argentine President Javier Milei, Bolivian leader Rodrigo Paz, Chilean President José Antonio Kast, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele,
Also, Honduran President Tito Asfura, Guyanese President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Trinidad and Tobago President Christine Kangaloo.
“The purpose of this new Latin American summit is to promote freedom, security and prosperity in our region,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. The gathering is to be held at Trump National Doral golf resort, about 13 miles west of Miami.
Leavitt said Trump will speak with the leaders to form “a historic coalition to work together to address criminal narcoterrorist gangs and cartels and counter illegal and mass migration.”
Analysts say the summit is also expected to reinforce Washington’s stance toward China’s growing presence in Latin America, while outlining the type of relationship the Trump administration seeks with the participating countries.
“In this neo-imperial policy toward Latin America, Trump is changing all the diplomatic rules, so he needs people willing to follow his lead,” Fernando Estenssoro, an international analyst and academic at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Santiago, told UPI.
With the meeting, Washington seeks to strengthen ties with like-minded governments and secure closer cooperation across political, economic and social issues, Alberto Rojas, director of the International Affairs Observatory at Finis Terrae University in Chile, told UPI.
Rojas said a recent dispute over a proposed submarine cable project linking Chile with Hong Kong illustrates the White House’s concerns about sensitive infrastructure projects that could involve data flows controlled by Chinese entities.
“So far it does not appear to be an issue that Chile sells copper to China, but it does worry Washington that Chile could participate in a project where information flows that could potentially be used for other purposes by the Chinese government,” Rojas said.
“The presidents of Latin America have no negotiating power with Trump, and that becomes clear when the United States says it will give the orders and whoever does not comply will face the consequences. It is an extraordinarily serious situation,” Estenssoro said.
Analysts also expect discussions about Cuba’s future, including whether regional leaders would support a possible intervention, as well as tensions with Iran and the broader Middle East.
Although Latin America appears to play a secondary role in that conflict, issues such as the presence of the militant group Hezbollah in the region have raised concerns.
Authorities in Paraguay and Argentina have recently strengthened intelligence coordination, security measures and financial monitoring in the so-called Triple Frontier area, where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet.
The region has long drawn attention from international security agencies due to investigations into alleged financing networks linked to Hezbollah.
