A Latin coalition in Miami, a spike at the pump, and an Iranian school in ruins
A Trump led summit to “eradicate the cartels,” a surge in US gas prices after February 28, and new footage that points to US responsibility for a deadly strike on a school in Minab.
Good morning from the incongruous reality that now seems to be ours. This week, we have our eye on the alliance of Latin American right-wing leaders with Trump, the impact of the war in Iran, and what our taxes are financing.
The Latin American right bends the knee
While the world freezes, wondering if we are already in World War III, Donald Trump gathered Latin American right-wing leaders at his golf club in Miami. At what he called the “Shield of the Americas” Summit, Trump announced a coalition to eradicate cartels in Latin America.
In front of leaders from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, and Trinidad and Tobago, Trump outlined his agenda for the region.
“Just as we formed a coalition to eradicate ISIS, we now need a coalition to eradicate the cartels,” he told the 12 regional leaders. “We must recognize that the epicenter of cartel violence is Mexico,” he said, adding that this is where “the cartels are fueling and orchestrating much of the bloodshed and chaos in this hemisphere.”
Kristi Noem, who resigned Thursday as DHS secretary, became the first cabinet secretary to leave the second Trump administration and spoke later that afternoon in her new role as US special envoy to the coalition.
“This is intended to be a group that works together to ensure we’re defending our own sovereignty, we’re each defending our own security and economic prosperity,” Noem said, adding that the organization would be a “powerful example to the rest of the world about what’s possible.”
The summit took place less than two months after the US military intervention in Venezuela, less than two weeks after US law enforcement provided intelligence assistance in Mexico to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, and one week after US military activity in Ecuador.
Notably absent were the leaders of Mexico and Colombia.
Trump announced that Cuba is “at the end of the line”
Trump also used the summit to repeat his prediction that the Cuban regime has “few days left,” especially now that it no longer has access to Venezuelan oil.
“We’re looking forward to the great change that will soon be coming to Cuba,” Trump said, asserting that the Caribbean nation was “at the end of the line.”
“They have no money, they have no oil, they have a bad philosophy and bad regime,” the US president said, while also claiming the regime wanted to negotiate with the United States. “Cuba is in its last moments of life as it was, but it will have a great new life.”
Gasoline prices skyrocket
Since the United States joined Israel in the attack on Iran, gasoline prices have skyrocketed. This week, it is reported that prices have increased by 17% since the conflict began.
This is partly due to disruptions in oil supplies in the Middle East, long considered a major source of the world’s energy.
According to The New York Times, the average price of gasoline in the US reached $3.48 per gallon, based on data from the AAA automobile club. That represents an increase of nearly 17% since the first US and Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28. Gasoline had not reached these levels since 2024.
The price of oil exceeded $100 on Monday after the attacks intensified, and Iran announced it would launch more missiles against Israel in response to the expansion of US and Israeli attacks.
The sudden rise in energy costs, from jet fuel to diesel for trucks and tractors, stems from crude oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Oil tankers that normally transport oil out of the region are not sailing, leaving the world without about a fifth of its oil supply.
TSA staff shortages at airports cause chaos
Since the Department of Homeland Security entered a partial shutdown, US airports have been in chaos. Queues at security checkpoints at airports across the country lasted more than an hour on Sunday, according to CNN.
The department, which oversees the Transportation Security Administration, posted photos of long lines on its social media pages, blaming Democrats for holding spring break travel “hostage for political points.” Funding for the department lapsed in mid February amid a standoff between Republicans and Democrats over federal immigration reform.
An explosive device was thrown outside Zohran Mamdani’s residence
New York police confirmed that an improvised explosive device was thrown in front of the official residence of the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on Saturday. The incident occurred when anti-Islamic protesters, led by influencer and right-wing activist Jake Lang, clashed with counter-protesters.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a preliminary bomb squad analysis of the device, which was ignited and thrown during the protest, had “determined that it is not a hoax device or a smoke bomb.”
“It is, in fact, an improvised explosive device that could have caused serious injury or death. Further analysis will be conducted, including on a second device,” Tisch said in a social media post.
Tisch added that two men, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, who were arrested at the scene, are in custody in connection with the incident, and that New York police are working with federal prosecutors and the FBI through a terrorism task force.
The United States is responsible for bombing schools in Iran
The bombing of the elementary school in Minab, Iran, where more than 168 people, mostly children, were killed, shook the world. Now, a video appears to confirm that the United States carried out the bombing.
The video, published by the Iranian news agency Mehr and geolocated at the site by the investigative collective Bellingcat, shows the missile striking the Minab complex on the morning of February 28, when the US and Israeli attacks on Iran began.
Along with other evidence from the site, including videos verified by The Guardian, photos of the aftermath, and satellite images of the attack, the new footage indicates that the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school was hit during a series of US strikes, as the target was an adjacent naval complex belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The attack destroyed approximately half of the school and killed dozens of girls between the ages of 7 and 12 who were attending morning classes.