Paraguay's Congress ratified an agreement with Washington allowing the temporary presence of US military personnel in the country, while Ecuador's government said it was planning a "very strong" offensive against drug cartels.

The two are among 17 Latin American and Caribbean countries led by right-wing or center-right governments that have signed up to Trump's "Americas Counter Cartel Coalition."

Trump has offered to support military action against cartels with US missile strikes on narco kingpins.

Three of the countries worst affected by drug trafficking -- Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, all of which have left-wing governments -- were excluded from the alliance.

Around 70 percent of the drugs produced by Colombia and Peru, the world's largest and second-largest cocaine producers, respectively, are shipped through neighboring Ecuador.

The drug trade has unleashed a bloody turf war that has turned one of Latin America's safest countries into one of its deadliest.

"We are going to hit them (drug traffickers) with full force... in this alliance we have with other countries, especially the United States," Ecuador's Interior Minister John Reimberg told Teleamazonas TV channel.

Reimberg said the "very strong offensive" would begin Sunday in coastal provinces most affected by drug violence and reiterated his call to residents to "stay home."

He did not specify whether US ground troops would be involved in the offensive.

Saturday's "Shield of the Americas" summit in Florida brought together some of Trump's closest allies, from Argentina's President Javier Milei to El Salvador's Nayib Bukele, who has arrested tens of thousands of people in a crackdown on gangs.

President Santiago Pena of Paraguay, which is traversed by rivers used to smuggle cocaine through South America, also attended.

- US presence possible -

On Tuesday, Paraguay's Congress ratified an agreement with Washington allowing the temporary presence of US military personnel in the country.

The deal, signed in Washington in December, also notably guarantees US forces in Paraguay immunity from prosecution in that country.

The opposition has slammed the treaty as a "surrender of sovereignty" and "unpatriotic."

The government has defended it as necessary to combat drug trafficking.

Meanwhile, Guatemala, which is plagued by gang-fueled extortion, announced plans for an weapons-buying spree after Washington lifted a nearly 50-year-old arms embargo on the Central American country.

The embargo was adopted in 1977 at the height of the country's civil war, which left around 200,000 dead or missing between 1960 and 1996, according to the United Nations.

Announcing plans for around $50 million in defense spending this year, Defense Minister Henry Saenz said: "Now we will be able to buy from the best market in the world (the United States)."

Guatemala is not part of Trump's anti-cartel alliance, but Washington has donated equipment to the Guatemalan military to combat drug trafficking.

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