Washington [US], March 8: The United States-Israeli war with Iran continues to rage, as Washington pledges to send more troops and military assets to the Middle East and Tehran widens its retaliatory strikes across the region.
But on Thursday, top officials under US President Donald Trump shifted focus to another military front: Latin America.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has indicated he plans to exert US dominance over the entire Western Hemisphere. His push for control has coincided with military operations against alleged criminal networks across the region.
At Thursday's inaugural "Americas Counter Cartel Conference", speakers such as White House security adviser Stephen Miller assured reporters that Latin America would remain a top military priority for the US, regardless of events in the Middle East.
"We are not going to cede an inch of territory in this hemisphere to our enemies or adversaries," Miller said, adding the US was "using hard power, military power, lethal force, to protect and defend the American homeland".
Miller further maintained there is no "criminal justice solution" to drug cartels, which he likened to armed groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).
Organised crime, he concluded, "can only be defeated with military power".
Since Trump took office last year, his administration has applied what experts describe as a "global war on terror" approach to Latin America, including by labelling drug cartels "foreign terrorist organisations".
Figures like Miller, a key architect behind Trump's hardline immigration policies, have championed the president's militaristic approach, even as critics warn it raises human rights and legal concerns.
Last September, for instance, the administration began striking alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, in what rights groups have decried as extrajudicial killings.
And in early January, the US launched an extraordinary operation to abduct Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. It has since pursued a pressure campaign against Cuba designed to weaken its communist government.
Just this week, on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced it had launched joint operations with Ecuador's military "against Designated Terrorist Organizations" in the South American country.
The announcement indicated a new front for US military actions in the region, which officials have said could include land operations.
The "Americas Counter Cartel Conference" came as Latin American leaders arrived in South Florida to attend a regional summit hosted by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Attendees included officials from the Trump-allied conservative governments in Argentina, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.
Source: Qatar Tribune
