Trump launches Shield of the Americas initiative to combat ‘narco-terrorist gangs and cartels’

President Donald Trump introduced a multinational security initiative to combat drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere during a summit with South American leaders in Florida on Saturday.The program, Shield of the Americas, is aimed at the coordination of the military, intelligence, and law enforcement of the partnering countries and focuses on the drug trafficking and cross-border crime syndicates of the Western Hemisphere.
“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries,” Trump said at the event. “We have to use our military. You have to use your military.” 
At the summit, more than a dozen heads of state from the U.S. and South America discussed the strategy of the coalition. 
The strategy focuses on intelligence-sharing and operational collaboration as a way to dismantle the cartels’ operational and structural flow of trafficking and drugs.
Trump said that organized crime syndicates and their activities should be viewed as a military focus and the equivalent of a cartel terrorist entity.
Trump has designated the first U.S. special envoy to the coalition, Kristi Noem, former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. She is expected to work closely with other countries to implement this initiative.

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