US-led coalition targets 24 criminal groups as Trump praises Milei

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged a US-led coalition of Latin American governments to impose sanctions on 24 criminal organisations, as he offered praised Argentina and President Javier Milei for what he called a “great victory” under his leadership.

Trump made the remarks at a meeting of the Shield of the Americas in New York, attended by Milei during his visit to the United States for the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.

“We had a great victory in Argentina, and not that long ago, twice,” Trump said, referring to recent electoral victories associated with Milei’s political movement.

The meeting was Milei’s first official activity in the United States during this year’s UN General Assembly. He was accompanied by Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and Economy Minister Luis Caputo.

The Shield of the Americas is a coalition of governments convened by Trump to combat drug-trafficking and organised crime across the region.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Trump called on its members to formally designate drug-traffickers as common threats to regional stability and impose sanctions on 24 organisations designated by Washington as foreign terrorist organisations.

“I’m asking all nations in the Shield of the Americas to formally designate narco-terrorists as common threats to stability,” Trump said.

Fifteen governments in the coalition subsequently issued a joint statement declaring their intention to impose asset freezes and visa restrictions and seek criminal liability for members and supporters of the 24 organisations.

At the top of the list are two groups designated as terrorist organisations by Washington: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), one of Central America’s most powerful criminal gangs, and Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang active in Colombia, Peru and Chile.

The list also includes major Mexican cartels, Colombia’s ELN, Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, and Peru’s Shining Path.

Trump described the cartels in a speech to the UN earlier on Tuesday as “the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere”, saying they were “enemies at war with civilisation.”

ISIS refers to the Islamic State group.

Trump told the Shield of the Americas meeting that the cartels had “waged a war against the people of this hemisphere” and said the governments represented at the meeting were now “waging a war against them."

Trump also praised what he described as a political shift to the right across the region, saying there had been “a great change in your countries, a great change towards the right. That’s a good thing.”

He also called on the coalition to protect the region’s natural resources, energy pipelines, rare-earth elements and agricultural trade corridors from hostile foreign powers.

“The resources of the Americas should always belong to the people of the Americas,” Trump said.

The joint statement was endorsed by the United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Trinidad and Tobago.