DORAL, United States (AFP) — United States (US) President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.

Trump, currently waging a war with Iran, laid out a muscular position for advancing Washington’s interests in the Western hemisphere, pronouncing that communist-led Cuba was “in its last moments of life” and advocating tough action by allies against organised crime blighting the region.

He formally launched a 17-nation “counter cartel” coalition which the White House described as a pledge from governments in the region to use “hard power” against security threats.

“We’re working with you to do whatever we have to do. We’ll use missiles. You want us to use a missile? They’re extremely accurate,” Trump told a dozen right-wing leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean at his Doral golf club near Miami.

“‘Piu,’ right into the living room,” he said, suggesting the sound of a missile in flight. “That’s the end of that cartel person. But we’ll do whatever you need.”

Trump has already staked bold claims in Latin America with the ouster of Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro, and working with his replacement, Delcy Rodriguez, to claim Venezuelan oil reserves for America.

Among the leaders attending the “Shield of the Americas” summit are Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, who has arrested tens of thousands of people in a crackdown on gangs.

All three leaders posted to social media photos of them standing beside Trump. Noboa wrote in Spanish: “For too long, organised crime believed that America was its territory. That they could cross borders, move drugs, weapons, and violence without consequences. That time is over for them.”

Irene Mia, a Latin America expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said drug cartel violence has hit countries in the region that until recently were considered fairly safe such as Ecuador and Chile.

The strained security situation has contributed to the right wing’s recent string of electoral victories in Latin America and means the trend of US intervention has received less pushback than in the past, Mia told AFP.

Trump urged regional leaders to use military force to stamp out criminal organisations, which he likened to a cancer, saying: “We don’t want it spreading.”

“The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries. We have to use our military,” he said.