US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the "cancer" of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.

He formally launched a 17-nation "counter cartel" coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use "hard power" against security threats.

"We're working with you to do whatever we have to do. We'll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They're extremely accurate," Trump told a dozen right-wing leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club near Miami.

"'Piu,' right into the living room," he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. "That's the end of that cartel person. But we'll do whatever you need."

Among the leaders attending the "Shield of the Americas" summit were Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa and El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, who has arrested tens of thousands of people in a crackdown on gangs.

All three leaders posted to social media photos of them standing beside Trump.

Noboa wrote in Spanish: "For too long, organised crime believed that America was its territory. That they could cross borders, move drugs, weapons, and violence without consequences. That time is over for them."

Also this week, the United States and Ecuador announced joint operations to combat drug trafficking and on Friday released video of a house exploding in a forested area of Ecuador, calling it a successful blow against "narcoterrorists."

In addition to Milei, Bukele and Noboa, Trump hosted the leaders of Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago – as well as Jose Antonio Kast, the president-elect of Chile. (AFP)


Edited by Tony Sabine