President Donald Trump’s summit with conservative Latin American leaders in Florida this Saturday will focus on security and democracy, Bolivia’s foreign minister has told AFP.
The US leader is expected to host a group of regional allies at Trump National Doral Miami, his golf resort in Doral, Florida, bringing together governments broadly aligned with Washington’s agenda in the Western Hemisphere.
Among the guests are Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Chile’s hard-right president-elect José Antonio Kast and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, whose tough anti-gang security crackdown has drawn attention across the region.
Other invited leaders include Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz, Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves, the Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Honduras’ President Nasry Asfura, Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino, Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
During his second stint in the Oval Office, Trump has taken a more active role in Latin American politics, publicly supporting several conservative candidates and strengthening ties with ideologically aligned governments.
He has also used the prospect of US financial backing and political support to encourage reforms and bolster allies in the region, including Argentina’s government under Milei.
For Bolivia, participation in the summit marks part of a broader effort by the new government in La Paz to reset relations with Washington after years of strained ties under the left-wing governments that preceded President Paz.
Bolivia also holds some of the world’s largest lithium reserves, a resource that has become increasingly strategic for the United States and its partners as competition grows with China over critical minerals used in electric batteries and advanced technologies.
The summit comes weeks after the United States deposed Venezuela’s long-time leader Nicolás Maduro, and as Washington intensifies pressure on the Cuban government.
“The purpose is to discuss the challenges facing Latin America,” Bolivia’s foreign minister Fernando Aramayo told AFP on Wednesday.
He said the agenda would range “from the state of our democracies to security issues, matters related to trade, cooperation with the private sector.”
Aramayo said the meeting would also examine “current situations and what a more united and more resilient Latin America could accomplish.”
Trump has sought to reassert US influence across the Americas — from military operations targeting suspected drug-trafficking vessels to efforts to push Chinese firms out of strategic infrastructure projects such as those linked to the Panama Canal.
“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again,” Trump said in January.
– TIMES/AFP
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