Cuba is not the only potential target of the build-up of military resources at the disposal of the U.S. Southern Command. Reportedly, drones are being transferred to the Command from Africa and the U.S. Army is preparing to stand up six military brigades for this theater within 90-120 days. It is the region as a whole that is under threat. The “Joint Statement on Defending Hemispheric Sovereignty,” issued following the “Shield of Americas” meeting held Sept. 22 in New York City with President Trump, outlines plans to extend the “Greenland Model” of U.S. military and economic domination to the countries south of the U.S. border. National sovereignty is to make way for so-called “hemispheric sovereignty.”

Most ominous, is the announcement that the 15 nations, including the United States, which signed the declaration, intend to anchor “collective action against narco-terrorist organizations” upon the 1947 Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (the Rio Treaty). Trump repeated to the Ibero-American heads and states or ministers from 14 countries who were present, that if they can’t take down the cartels, “we’ll do it for you.”

The nature of that “collective action” is still a hot one, even among the “Shield” member states. They have agreed to join the U.S. in designating 24 drug cartels in the region as “narco-terrorist organizations,” and to take collective action against them. Agreements to strengthen cooperation in intelligence sharing, access to security technologies, capabilities, and training for nations to take on these entities are useful. However, several countries, including even Colombia and Chile, have not accepted U.S. demands that U.S. special forces and military deploy into their countries under this pretext, as they are now doing in Ecuador. Nor have many nations agreed to deploy their forces into other countries.

National sovereignty is still a concept that means something in the region.