US President Donald Trump will host leaders from several Latin American and Caribbean countries in Miami on March 7 for a summit aimed at strengthening regional cooperation on security, migration and organised crime, the White House said on March 4.

The gathering, dubbed the “Shield of the Americas”, will bring together heads of state from Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago. Chile’s president-elect José Antonio Kast, who is due to take office on March 11, is also expected to attend.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the summit is intended to strengthen cooperation among governments aligned with Washington and to address common regional challenges. “Promote freedom, security and prosperity in our region,” she said when outlining the objectives of the meeting.

Leavitt added that Trump will hold talks with leaders who have formed what she described as a regional coalition to confront illegal migration and transnational crime. “The president will engage with leaders who have formed a historic coalition to work together to address illegal and mass migration as well as the threat of criminal gangs, drug traffickers and terrorists,” she said.

The select list of participants comprises right-leaning leaders on good terms with Trump: Argentine President Javier Milei, Bolivia's Rodrigo Paz, Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves, Dominican President Luis Abinader, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, Honduran President Nasry Asfura, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña and Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

According to the White House, the initiative forms part of Washington’s strategy to reinforce US leadership across the Western Hemisphere and support US interests in the region, echoing principles associated with the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine, which built on the idea of “America for Americans”.

The summit comes amid heightened regional tensions following a US operation on January 3 in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were transferred to New York to face drug trafficking charges. Delcy Rodríguez, who served as vice-president under Maduro, has since been sworn in as acting president and has signalled openness to economic and political reforms demanded by Washington.

Following that operation, the Trump administration also imposed an energy blockade intended to prevent Cuba from receiving oil shipments, a move that has deepened the island’s economic and social crisis.