U.S. President Donald Trump doubled down on the United States’ commitment to the Western Hemisphere in part of a sweeping speech on National Security and domestic progress before the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday.
“The United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States,” he said.
As an example, President Trump highlighted last January’s successful military operation that brought about the arrest of dictator Nicolas Maduro on charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking and led to subsequent regime change in Venezuela:
“Since that day, hundreds of Venezuelan political prisoners have been freed. They've let them out of jails, and we're working closely with the leaders of Venezuela to forge a much better future for the Venezuelan people,” said President Trump.
That future looks more prosperous after the U.S. signed a landmark oil deal with Venezuela last month that will grant the U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves. The groundbreaking privatization and investment in Venezuela’s energy sector is a key step in the United States’ three-part plan of stabilization, reconstruction and democratic transition. The deal will “benefit both Venezuela and the United States enormously,” President Trump said. “And help drive down the cost of energy all over the world.”
President Trump discussed the U.S. strategy to target narcoterrorists, calling the drug cartels the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere”:
“They’re enemies at war with civilization, using murder, rape, torture and extortion as instruments of terror. Like ISIS, they should be killed, exiled or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing.”
President Trump noted the campaign against cartel boats has been successful, cutting drug trafficking by sea by up to ninety-seven percent. He lauded the killing of the leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and called on Mexico to “reclaim control of its soil from the enemies of humanity,” in cooperation with the U.S.
He also said that the United States is seeking a “fundamental change” in the situation in Cuba.
“The communist regime is under great pressure, the biggest pressure they've ever been under,” he said. “[We] will not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep.”
“We are reasserting American power, including American military power, where necessary, in our region and around the world, to create a safer future for all of us. It's happening, and it's happening quickly,” he said.