The cartels are losing political cover, and they know it.The Trump administration has treated the Western Hemisphere as a security problem — rather than allow diplomatic courtesy to block needed action.Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is in U.S.
custody.Colombia elected Abelardo de la Espriella, who ran against negotiations with armed groups and won.
Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and others have aligned with Washington’s enforcement policies.The Shield of the Americas coalition now coordinates intelligence and operations against cartel networks – but with a handful of exceptions: Mexico, Brazil, Cuba and Nicaragua.That is the Donroe Doctrine in practice: American predominance in the hemisphere, applied to migration, Chinese footholds and the drug trade.EXCLUSIVE: TRUMP’S NEW SECURITY ALLIANCE FACES FIRST REAL-WORLD TEST DEEP IN SOUTH AMERICA AS TROOPS DEPLOYCritically, this is a major shift in the operating environments for the Sinaloa cartel, CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel), and the Colombian and Venezuelan networks that fed them.A soldier stands guard by a charred vehicle after it was set on fire in Cointzio, Michoacán state, Mexico, Sunday, Feb.
22, 2026, after the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho." (AP Photo/Armando Solis) (AP Photo/Armando Solis)Cuba is the weakest link in the old arc.Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the regime has already fallen as a functioning state.
About a fifth of the population has left since 2021.The lights fail, the peso is worthless and the government that remains specializes in jailing people.
Whether the Castro apparatus collapses by December is unknowable.What is knowable is that Havana is no longer a reliable logistics or intelligence partner for anyone who needs one.In Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Morena government is increasingly alone.
It keeps bilateral contacts with Washington while refusing the regi...