On March 7, 2026, at the Trump National Doral resort in Miami, President Donald Trump signed the Doral Charter - a proclamation formally establishing the Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition, known as A3C. Thirteen heads of state stood behind him. Seventeen nations signed on. Trinidad and Tobago was one of them, and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stood to Trump's right during the ceremony. She received the pen he used to sign the agreement.
Local coverage framed both details as moments of diplomatic recognition. But neither the pen nor the photo placement tells you what the country actually committed to. The text of the proclamation, the surrounding events, and the broader strategic context tell a different story - one that warrants closer examination than it has so far received.
What the Charter Actually Says
The Doral Charter is not a vague statement of goodwill. It was published as a formal presidential proclamation - "Commitment to Countering Cartel Criminal Activity" - and entered into the Federal Register on March 12, 2026. Its four policy directives are specific. First, criminal cartels and foreign terrorist organizations in the Western Hemisphere "should be demolished to the fullest extent possible consistent with applicable law." Second, the United States and its allies should coordinate to deprive these organizations of "any control of territory and access to financing or resources." Third, the US will "train and mobilize partner nation militaries" to achieve what it calls "the most effective fighting force necessary to dismantle cartels." Fourth - and this one deserves particular attention - the coalition should "keep external threats at bay, including malign foreign influences from outside the Western Hemisphere."
That fourth directive is not about cartels. It is about China.
Trump's own characterisation of the mandate left no room for interpretation. He described the coalition's purpose as "a commitment to using lethal military force to destroy the sinister cartels and terrorist networks once and for all." He told assembled leaders directly: "You have to just tell us where they are. We have amazing weaponry."
Defence Minister Wayne Sturge, who attended the Americas Counter-Cartel Conference at US Southern Command headquarters two days before the signing on March 5, appeared to embrace this framing fully. He told the assembled military leaders: "We are not observers in this fight. We are on the front line with you." He appealed for more "assets" for Trinidad and Tobago. The Prime Minister separately met with SOUTHCOM commander General Francis Donovan, identified cybersecurity, forensics, and ballistics as priority areas for US support, and extended a personal invitation for the general to visit Trinidad and Tobago.
Who Signed - and Who Did Not
The full list of signatories includes Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago, along with the United States itself and several other nations that joined the declaration. The overwhelming majority of signatories are right-of-centre governments that have aligned closely with the current US administration.
Three conspicuous absences define the coalition as much as its membership does. Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia - the three largest economies in Latin America, and the three countries with the most direct exposure to cartel operations - declined to participate. Each has a strained relationship with the Trump administration. Their absence suggests that the nations with the most at stake in counter-narcotics work assessed this framework as something other than a straightforward anti-crime initiative.
Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are the only English-speaking Caribbean nations in the coalition. Dr. Michal Pawinski of the UWI Institute of International Relations has warned that this selective participation is "potentially damaging relations with Caricom member states for short-term possible economic benefits." The concern is not abstract. CARICOM operates, at least in principle, on a model of collective engagement with external powers. Trinidad and Tobago stepped outside that model to sign a bilateral military framework with Washington - without any visible consultation with regional partners.
The Sequence of Events
The Doral signing did not happen in isolation. It was the culmination of months of escalating US military activity in the region - activity in which Trinidad and Tobago was already deeply involved.
From November 2025 through March 2026, 108 US Marines and an AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR radar system were stationed in Tobago at the ANR Robinson International Airport in Crown Point. The G/ATOR is a Marine Corps military radar with a range of up to 170 miles, capable of detecting stealth targets, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The Prime Minister estimated it cost US$3 million per day to operate. The government's explanations for the deployment shifted multiple times - from road construction assistance, to narco-trafficking surveillance, to the Coast Guard fleet being "not what it should be." A US military communications officer, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Natasha Chevalier Losada, confirmed via Radio GTMO that the radar "can be used in US conflict with Venezuela." The FAA issued a flight advisory for the region citing "increased state aircraft."
In early January 2026, US military operations resulted in what international outlets described as the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro. The Tobago radar deployment coincided directly with that operation. On March 3 - four days before the Doral summit - the US and Ecuador launched joint military operations against cartel networks, with US Special Forces advising Ecuadorian commandos. That same day, Trinidad and Tobago declared its own State of Emergency.
Meanwhile, since September 2025, the US has been conducting what it calls Operation Southern Spear - kinetic strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking in Caribbean waters. As of late February 2026, at least 151 people had been killed in 44 strikes across 45 vessels, including strikes in the Caribbean Sea. Some families in Trinidad and Tobago have come forward to claim victims as their relatives - not narco-terrorists, they say, but fishermen and informal workers transiting between Caribbean islands and South America.
This is the operational context in which Trinidad and Tobago signed the Doral Charter. The country did not join a planning committee. It joined a coalition whose military operations were already underway, already lethal, and already claiming Caribbean lives.
The Persons of Interest
Within days of the signing, Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander confirmed that US officials had provided Trinidad and Tobago with a list of "persons of interest" linked to illegal drugs, guns, and violence. Alexander said he could not divulge details for national security reasons. The Trinidad Guardian reported that Alexander was "mum" on specifics following the counter-cartel meeting.
The implications are significant. Intelligence sharing is a standard feature of security cooperation. But a list of targets provided by a foreign government, within the context of a coalition that explicitly endorses "lethal military force," raises questions about due process and operational accountability that have not been publicly addressed. Dr. Anthony Gonzales, the former head of UWI's Institute of International Relations, criticised the Prime Minister - herself a trained lawyer - for not championing due process protections within the coalition framework.
The Venezuela-Energy Tension
Trinidad and Tobago's energy sector depends on Venezuelan gas. The Dragon Gas project - piping natural gas from Venezuelan waters for processing - represents the country's best chance to address declining domestic production, currently around 2.5 bcf/d against a target of 3.2 bcf/d. In February 2026, the US Treasury issued a license permitting Trinidad and Tobago, Shell, and their partners to negotiate the Dragon field's development with PDVSA through April 2026.
Venezuela's National Assembly declared Persad-Bissessar persona non grata. No Trinidad and Tobago government has aligned this openly with Washington in the modern era, and Caracas made its displeasure plain. The tension is fundamental. Trinidad and Tobago has joined a US military coalition whose operations have included action against the Venezuelan government - while simultaneously depending on US permission to conduct energy business with whoever governs Caracas. The country's energy future is now mediated by the same power whose military it has pledged to stand alongside.
The China Factor
The Doral Charter's fourth directive - keeping "malign foreign influences from outside the Western Hemisphere" at bay - is a thinly veiled reference to China. CSIS analysts have described the Shield of the Americas as an "amplified strategy to counter China in the Western Hemisphere," noting China's trade with Latin America reached US$518 billion in 2024, with loans exceeding US$120 billion and Huawei present in at least a dozen regional telecommunications networks. The US has been pressing coalition partners to limit China's role in critical infrastructure. Joining A3C does not formally require any position on China, but the diplomatic context is unambiguous: members are expected to align with Washington's broader hemispheric strategy.
What Has Not Been Debated
Here is what is remarkable about the Doral Charter as a domestic matter: there has been almost no public debate about its terms. The Prime Minister framed participation as necessary pragmatism: "We cannot do it alone; the assistance of the US will help us win the war against the criminals." Business leaders "largely welcomed the move," according to the Express, with some urging caution. The Oilfields Workers' Trade Union - which supported the UNC electorally - declared itself "totally supportive" of US Secretary of State Rubio's pledge to help restart the Petrotrin refinery, tying labour interests directly to the US alignment. The Opposition has been largely silent on the substance of the agreement, though it has criticised the government on adjacent issues - the radar deployment, the State of Emergency, the shifting explanations for US military presence.
But the fundamental questions remain unasked in any official forum. What specific obligations has Trinidad and Tobago assumed under the Doral Charter? What operational commitments flow from Sturge's declaration that "we are on the front line"? What legal framework governs joint operations with US forces in Trinidad and Tobago's waters? Does the coalition framework affect the country's ability to maintain independent foreign policy positions - on Venezuela, on China, on CARICOM matters? What happens if US kinetic operations in the Caribbean kill more Trinbagonian nationals?
The agreement was signed. The pen is in Port of Spain. Parliament has not debated the charter's terms. A 17-nation military coalition committed to lethal force, intelligence-sharing, and the exclusion of "malign foreign influences" from the hemisphere - and the country that signed it has not yet had a public conversation about what it agreed to.
The implications are still arriving. Some of them are already lethal.
Sources
- White House: "Commitment to Countering Cartel Criminal Activity" - Presidential Proclamation (March 7, 2026), published in Federal Register (March 12, 2026)
- Trinidad Guardian: "Trinidad and Tobago joins Americas Counter Cartel Coalition" (March 9, 2026)
- Trinidad Guardian: "Alexander mum on US persons of interest list after counter-cartel meeting" (March 2026)
- Trinidad Express: "Defence partnership" (March 10, 2026)
- Trinidad Express: "Business sector welcomes US security alliance" (March 10, 2026)
- Trinidad Express: "Disrupting cartel equilibrium" - Columnist analysis (March 8, 2026)
- Trinidad Express: "Analysts uncertain over benefits from T&T joining 'Shield'" (March 2026)
- CNC3: "Trinidad and Tobago joins Americas Counter Cartel Coalition" (March 9, 2026)
- CNC3: "Experts warn of regional fallout from T&T's US security pact" (March 2026)
- CNC3: "Sturge requests more US military assets in fight against drug cartels" (March 2026)
- CNC3: "Govt silent on details after PM's talks with US Southern Command" (March 2026)
- TV6: "Minister Sturge addresses counter cartel meeting" (March 5, 2026)
- Stabroek News: "More US support for T&T in war against drug traffickers" (March 10, 2026)
- Stabroek News: "US shares 'persons of interest' list with T&T in anti-cartel push" (March 12, 2026)
- Stabroek News: "Sobers assures T&T sovereignty intact after meetings with US officials" (March 8, 2026)
- Caribbean National Weekly: "Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana join US-led Americas Counter-Cartel Coalition" (March 9, 2026)
- Jamaica Gleaner: "Trinidad, Guyana join Americas Counter Cartel Coalition" (March 9, 2026)
- Dialogo Americas: "Americas Counter-Cartel Conference sends clear warning to cartels across the hemisphere" (March 2026)
- CSIS: "The Shield of Americas Gathering and an Amplified Strategy to Counter China in the Western Hemisphere" (March 2026)
- Just Security: "The Shield of the Americas Is the Trump Corollary's Military Edge" (March 2026)
- Chatham House: "Trump's 'Shield of the Americas' coalition is destined to fail" (March 2026)
- HSToday: "Trump Launches 17-Nation Counter Cartel Coalition at Shield of the Americas Summit" (March 2026)
- Rio Times: "Latin America Defense Monitor" (March 8, 2026)
- Trinidad Guardian: "US military officer says radar in Tobago can be used in conflict with Venezuela" (December 9, 2025)
- Army Recognition: "Strategic U.S. Radar Deployment in Tobago Near Venezuela" (November 29, 2025)
- CNN: "A timeline of US strikes on boats that have killed at least 163" (updated 2026)
- Al Jazeera: "Four killed in latest US attack on alleged drug-smuggling boat in Caribbean" (March 25, 2026)