President Donald Trump announced a new military coalition Saturday to eradicate drug cartels across Latin America, vowing to unleash U.S. lethal force, including precise missile strikes.

At the inaugural Shield of the Americas summit held at his Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, Trump signed a proclamation establishing the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition with leaders from a dozen nations. He described the agreement as "a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks," touting the U.S. military's "amazing weaponry."

Trump called the cartels a "cancer" more powerful than some regional militaries and urged allies to identify targets, saying, "We use missiles. If you want us to use a missile, they're extremely accurate -- pew! -- right into the living room, and that's the end of that cartel person." "The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries," he added, noting the U.S. was already "knocking the hell out of them" and prepared to intensify operations.

Attending presidents included Argentina's Javier Milei, El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, Ecuador's Daniel Noboa, and Panama's José Raúl Mulino, along with leaders from Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Honduras, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago. Seventeen countries ultimately signed the joint security declaration. Notably absent were Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia.

The move builds on recent U.S. actions, including a joint operation with Ecuador on Friday that involved lethal strikes on a narco-terrorist camp near the Colombian border. The administration has also destroyed dozens of drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since last fall and extracted Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January on drug charges.

Trump singled out Mexico as the "epicenter" of cartel violence, pressing President Claudia Sheinbaum to eradicate them, while administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended. The initiative aligns with the "Monroe Doctrine," aimed at countering cartels, migration, and foreign influences like China in the hemisphere.