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Secretary Rubio Opens the Shield of the Americas Meeting in New York, Sep. 22, 2026

September 22, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:03:19

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened the Shield of the Americas meeting with heads of state and foreign ministers in New York on September 22, 2026, delivering his welcoming remarks in a mix of Spanish and English and noting that President Trump would join the group shortly; the State Department’s full-session feed of the meeting is recorded as an alternate source. The President’s own Shield of the Americas event the same day is paged separately on this site.

Rubio’s argument was that the adversary has changed: today’s transnational groups are “not simply drug cartels” but sophisticated organizations that “in many cases rival the state” in financial, military, and intelligence resources, coordinate across borders, and so must be met by coordination among the governments facing them. The alliance, he said, has added two members since its last meeting, and extends beyond counter-crime cooperation to economic partnership and diplomatic weight — speaking “in one voice, in unison” and pooling resources in international forums.

Why it matters

The Secretary is the alliance’s working convener: this short opening is the Shield’s stated doctrine — cartels reframed as state-rivaling transnational terrorists, answered by a standing coalition that votes and acts together — delivered by the administration’s senior diplomat to the coalition’s own heads of government.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio Meets with Shield of the Americas Heads of State and Foreign Ministers” (official upload, embedded above; New York City). Remarks as delivered; transcript reviewed in the site’s private research store; full transcript at state.gov.