President Donald Trump will welcome leaders from Latin American countries during the Shield of the Americas Summit, a security meeting set to be held in the city of Doral, the White House confirmed.
The goal of the summit is to promote “freedom, security, and prosperity in our region,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
She added that the countries “have really formed a historic coalition to work together to address criminal narco-terrorist gangs and cartels and counter illegal and mass migration into not only the United States but the Western Hemisphere, which remains a key and top priority of this president.”
For now, Leavitt said, the president will host heads of state from “Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and maybe some others as well.”
Although media outlets and invited leaders had previously mentioned the event, the Trump administration had not publicly provided details about the summit until now.
Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was among the leaders who shared the official invitation on his Instagram account.
“Paraguay will be present at this important meeting, which will strengthen cooperation and joint efforts in support of the security and stability of our nations,” he wrote Feb. 19 about the invitation.
As a lead-up to the summit, the city of Doral announced an official welcome reception. The event is expected to include Mayor Christi Fraga; leaders from the invited countries; members of Congress; and Christopher Landau, the State Department’s deputy secretary, among others.
The invitation-only event will be held on Friday, March 6, at the Doral Cultural Arts Center.
Portions of this story were translated from Spanish with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool. An NBC 6 editor reviewed the translation.