Trump Urges 15 Nations to Sanction 24 Drug Cartels and Gangs at UN Meeting
Trump Calls for Sanctions on 24 Criminal Groups
President Donald Trump urged the Shield of the Americas coalition to designate 24 criminal organizations as narco-terrorists and impose sanctions, with the group issuing a joint statement to freeze assets and pursue charges against them. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York City. [1] Trump pledged to use “unmatched military might” against drug cartels in the Western Hemisphere during the gathering. [1] He described the groups as the “ISIS of the Western Hemisphere” and asked all nations in the coalition to formally designate narco-terrorists as common threats to stability and apply crushing sanctions against all of the groups. [1] The coalition’s 15 governments later issued a joint statement saying they intended to impose asset freezes and visa restrictions on members and supporters of the groups and to pursue criminal charges against them. [1]
Targeted Organizations and Coalition Members
The coalition includes 15 governments that agreed to impose asset freezes, visa restrictions, and pursue criminal charges against members of groups including MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Mexican cartels, Colombia's National Liberation Army, Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho, and Peru's Shining Path. [1] At the top of the list are two groups that have been declared “terrorist” organisations by Washington: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Tren de Aragua. [1] The list also includes major Mexican cartels, Colombian armed groups such as the National Liberation Army, Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho groups, and Peru’s Shining Path. [1] The coalition is made up of governments closely aligned with Trump, including Argentina, Ecuador and El Salvador. [1] Colombia and Peru joined after Trump-aligned presidents took office in recent months. [1] Brazil and Mexico have not joined. [1]
Symbolic Nature and Next Steps
The statement is largely symbolic as each country must follow its own legal procedures, such as Colombia requiring a new law. [1] Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Bogota, Colombia, said the statement was largely symbolic for now, because each country must follow its own legal procedures. [1] For example, here in Colombia, it will require a law to pass in Congress, and the government has asked Congress to move forward in drafting such a law. [1] While the consequences may not be immediate, this is clearly an important step towards building what the US has been trying to do in Latin America through this alliance. [1]
Broader Trump Administration Approach
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also attended, praised “the emergence of strong leaders who are committed to the challenge of taking on transnational terrorism”. [1] Since returning to office last year, Trump has designated cartels as foreign terrorist organisations and ordered dozens of strikes on boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that US officials say were carrying narcotics bound for the US. [1] The strikes have killed more than 223 people, and UN experts say they violate international law and could amount to crimes against humanity. [1] The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, released late last year, laid out plans for a revamped Monroe Doctrine. [1] The focus on the hemisphere has raised concerns across the region. [1] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in his UN speech, bristled at the approach, warning countries in Latin America and the Caribbean of “renewed hegemonic temptations”. [1] “Brazil is nobody’s back yard,” Lula said. [1]
Separate FBI Data Breach Claim
Separately, hacking group ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen data on nearly all current and former FBI employees including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and family details. [2] The digital extortion group known as “ShinyHunters” said that it had breached the Federal Bureau of Investigation and stolen data on a huge number of current and former FBI employees. [2] The FBI said the agency “is aware of claims regarding unauthorized activity affecting FBIjobs.gov and is currently investigating.” [2] In a statement posted to its dark-web site and during an online chat with Reuters, ShinyHunters said it had targeted the FBI in response to a May 2026 agency announcement that detailed ShinyHunters’ methods and advised targets not to pay. [2] It said it had stolen data “on almost ALL FBI Agents, and individuals who filed an application with the FBI for a job.” [2] As proof, the group offered what it said was a screenshot of a vandalized FBI job site and what the group said was information on roughly 5,000 agents it said was a sample of the overall stolen data set. [2] Reuters could not verify the authenticity of the screenshot, but the job site did appear to have experienced recent disruption. [2] A message posted to the site on Tuesday said that both it and the FBI “Special Agent Applicant Portal” were “currently unavailable.” [2] The data sample appeared to contain information about FBI agents’ names, home addresses, Social Security numbers, their assignments and, in at least some cases, the names of their family members. [2] Reuters was able to partially verify the authenticity of the information by running the details, including the Social Security numbers, against credit bureau records and previously breached data preserved by the dark-web intelligence firm District 4 Labs. [2] In at least 10 instances — including in the case of FBI Director Kash Patel — Reuters found details that appeared to match. [2]
Implications of the Alleged Hack
Stolen data can put agents at risk. [2] Cynthia Kaiser, a former FBI official, said breaches like the ones claimed by ShinyHunters were “incredibly harmful” because they could be used by criminals to expose and put pressure on the people investigating them. [2] Kaiser, now senior vice president at cybersecurity firm Halcyon, noted that an old leak dating back to 2016 was still occasionally used today to harass FBI agents. [2] “Once that information is stolen, it is used forever,” she said. [2] ShinyHunters is one of the world’s most notorious and attention-seeking hacking crews. [2] Its recent break-ins include the purported theft of millions of business records from video game developer Rockstar Games, the maker of “Grand Theft Auto,” and a May intrusion centered on education tool Canvas that caused widespread disruption across US schools. [2] Earlier this month, AI company Anthropic said it had caught ShinyHunters-linked hackers trying to use its tools. [2] On Sunday, the group told Reuters it had gone to war against another notorious cybercrime group, cl0p, in a rare bout of public score-settling. [2] News of the FBI breach was first reported by the news outlet 404 media. [2]
What to watch next: The coalition’s 15 governments will need to follow their own legal procedures to enact the asset freezes and visa restrictions, with Colombia already moving to draft a required law in Congress.
